diff --git a/packages/ui-api/src/Api.tsx b/packages/ui-api/src/Api.tsx
index 4b63e9b472..9c807ded08 100644
--- a/packages/ui-api/src/Api.tsx
+++ b/packages/ui-api/src/Api.tsx
@@ -88,12 +88,14 @@ export default class ApiWrapper extends React.PureComponent<Props, State> {
       tokenDecimals: 0,
       tokenSymbol: undefined
     };
+    const tokenSymbol = properties.get('tokenSymbol') || found.tokenSymbol;
 
     console.log('api: found chain', chain, [...properties.entries()]);
 
     // first setup the UI helpers
-    formatBalance.setDefaultDecimals(properties.get('tokenDecimals') || found.tokenDecimals || 0);
-    InputNumber.setUnit(properties.get('tokenSymbol') || found.tokenSymbol);
+    formatBalance.setDefaultDecimals(properties.get('tokenDecimals') || found.tokenDecimals);
+    formatBalance.setDefaultUnits(tokenSymbol);
+    InputNumber.setUnit(tokenSymbol);
 
     // setup keyring (loadAll) only after prefix has been set
     keyring.setAddressPrefix(properties.get('networkId') || found.networkId as any || 42);
diff --git a/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.spec.ts b/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.spec.ts
index 1b4c22c7e7..2c62f4dd2e 100644
--- a/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.spec.ts
@@ -12,49 +12,49 @@ describe('formatBalance', () => {
   it('formats 123,456,789,000 (decimals=15)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL, true, 15)
-    ).toEqual('123.456µ');
+    ).toEqual('123.456 µUnit');
   });
 
   it('formats 123,456,789,000  (decimals=12)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL, true, 12)
-    ).toEqual('123.456m');
+    ).toEqual('123.456 mUnit');
   });
 
   it('formats 123,456,789,000  (decimals=12, no SI)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL, false, 12)
-    ).toEqual('123.456');
+    ).toEqual('123.456 ');
   });
 
   it('formats 123,456,789,000 (decimals=9)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL, true, 9)
-    ).toEqual('123.456');
+    ).toEqual('123.456 Unit');
   });
 
   it('formats 123,456,789,000 (decimals=6)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL, true, 6)
-    ).toEqual('123.456k');
+    ).toEqual('123.456 kUnit');
   });
 
   it('formats 123,456,789,000 * 10 (decimals=12)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL.muln(10), true, 12)
-    ).toEqual('1.234');
+    ).toEqual('1.234 Unit');
   });
 
   it('formats 123,456,789,000 * 100 (decimals=12)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL.muln(100), true, 12)
-    ).toEqual('12.345');
+    ).toEqual('12.345 Unit');
   });
 
   it('formats 123,456,789,000 * 1000 (decimals=12)', () => {
     expect(
       formatBalance(TESTVAL.muln(1000), true, 12)
-    ).toEqual('123.456');
+    ).toEqual('123.456 Unit');
   });
 
   describe('findSi', () => {
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ describe('formatBalance', () => {
     it('returns default on not found', () => {
       expect(
         formatBalance.findSi('blah')
-      ).toEqual({ power: 0, value: '-', text: '----' });
+      ).toEqual({ power: 0, value: '-', text: 'Unit' });
     });
   });
 
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ describe('formatBalance', () => {
 
       expect(
         formatBalance(TESTVAL)
-      ).toEqual('123.456µ');
+      ).toEqual('123.456 µUnit');
     });
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.ts b/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.ts
index b2bc7d48f1..c448853966 100644
--- a/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.ts
+++ b/packages/ui-app/src/util/formatBalance.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ interface BalanceFormatter {
   getDefaultDecimals (): number;
   getOptions (decimals?: number): Array<SiDef>;
   setDefaultDecimals (decimals: number): void;
+  setDefaultUnits (unit: string): void;
 }
 
 const SI: Array<SiDef> = [
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ const SI: Array<SiDef> = [
   { power: -9, value: 'n', text: 'nano' },
   { power: -6, value: 'µ', text: 'micro' },
   { power: -3, value: 'm', text: 'milli' },
-  { power: 0, value: '-', text: '----' }, // position 8
+  { power: 0, value: '-', text: 'Unit' }, // position 8
   { power: 3, value: 'k', text: 'Kilo' },
   { power: 6, value: 'M', text: 'Mega' },
   { power: 9, value: 'G', text: 'Giga' },
@@ -63,8 +64,15 @@ function _formatBalance (input?: number | string | BN, withSi: boolean = true, d
   const mid = text.length - (decimals + si.power);
   const prefix = text.substr(0, mid);
   const postfix = `${text.substr(mid)}000`.substr(0, 3);
+  const units = withSi
+    ? (
+      si.value === '-'
+        ? si.text
+        : `${si.value}${SI[SI_MID].text}`
+    )
+    : '';
 
-  return `${formatDecimal(prefix || '0')}.${postfix}${withSi ? (si.value === '-' ? '' : si.value) : ''}`;
+  return `${formatDecimal(prefix || '0')}.${postfix} ${units}`;
 }
 
 const formatBalance = _formatBalance as BalanceFormatter;
@@ -92,4 +100,9 @@ formatBalance.setDefaultDecimals = (decimals: number = 0): void => {
   defaultDecimals = decimals;
 };
 
+// Sets the default decimals to use for formatting (chain-wide)
+formatBalance.setDefaultUnits = (unit: string = 'Unit'): void => {
+  SI[SI_MID].text = unit;
+};
+
 export default formatBalance;