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Comment by xefer | Hacker News Reader

I'm always amused that every bitcoin story seems to include a stock photo of a shiny physical coin with a big "B" on it.

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Well a vector version of that image (A big B in gold coin) is the first thing you see when you go to bitcoin.org so you can't really blame the media for following their example.

People still have trouble grasping immaterial, purely-informational things.

I'm pretty sure that 99% of the money I have handled in the last decade or so has been "purely-informational".

Yes, but you can take a physical dollar out of your wallet and look at it. JUST LOOK AT IT! It's a piece of paper with special ink on it that makes it difficult, but not impossible, to counterfeit! BUT IT'S REAL! ;)

The article mentions that 88% of cash in circulation is in $100 bills. (I know that the percentage of ALL transactions that are in cash is low.)

People are always looking for a way to visualize it. Since it is a currency, and people associate coins with currency, what better icon to use?

Well, since it's a crypto-currency, maybe something cryptographic? But I see the point, people associate currencies with coins.

How do you visualize cryptography? A padlock? It might be a cool image to have a stack of those "B" coins with holes punched through them attached to a lock. I don't know if that would really help describe what bitcoin is though.

A police officer peaking around his blindfold at an ostrich with its head buried in the sand?

A spreadsheet would be a closer representation of Bitcoin. You can make it a paper one if you want a proper photo :)

But does a spreadsheet icon look like a currency to you?

How about a stately, classic bank building engulfed in flames.

A tulip?

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