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Not all national currencies have a symbol, so to speak. A lot of times you just abbreviate the currency a certain standard way, so 5 btc, as written a lot, is just fine and widely accepted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_symbol

Examples:

Indonesian rupiah - Rp

Guatemalan quetzal - Q

Lithuanian centas - ct

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I don't think "BTC" should be used in contexts where it may be construed as an ISO-4217 currency code, as the first 2 letters correspond with ISO country codes and "BT" is reserved for Bhutan. I believe currencies not attached to specific geography or sovereignty should start with X (No country names start with X). So XBC seems the right fit.

Correct, XBT is the ISO name for bitcoin. Most people don't know this and are still using BTC, but BTC is wrong.

I suspect a lot of the original bitcoin folks, typically being some variant of libertarian or anarchist, couldn't care less what some random unelected multinational organization says.

This is where the generic "non-specific currency" symbol -- ¤ -- can also come into play. Though I just about never see it get used, which is probably an indicator of something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_sign_%28typography%29

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