What are Satoshis?
Every bitcoin can be broken down into 100 million smaller units called satoshis (named after Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto). That means 1 BTC equals exactly 100,000,000 sats. If you’ve ever seen a transaction showing 0.000021453 BTC, it’s much easier to read it as “21,453 sats.”
This small unit exists to make bitcoin practical for everyday use: For example for a coffee purchase or a microtransaction online.
The smallest Unit
Bitcoin’s divisibility makes it more flexible. Since a single bitcoin is worth over 100.000€ (July 2025), having a small unit like the satoshi allows you to send or receive tiny amounts, sometimes even fractions of a penny.
While on-chain transaction fees have risen with Bitcoin’s price, second-layer solutions like the Lightning Network allow users to send sats instantly and affordably, making microtransactions viable again.
Sats are the Standard?
Although many people still measure prices in BTC, using sats is becoming more common. Why? It’s simpler and more intuitive. Instead of 0.000045 BTC, just say 4,500 sats. This shift helps reduce confusion - especially for people new to Bitcoin.
In fact, satoshis are already the standard when calculating transaction fees. Wallets and block explorers usually show fees in “sats per vByte.” As Bitcoin continues to grow, we’ll likely see more prices expressed directly in sats.
Bitcoin Denominations that never caught on
There were other units of bitcoin, but none of them really got adopted by the users:
- 1,000 BTC = 1 kiloBitcoin (kBTC)
- 10 BTC = 1 decaBitcoin (daBTC)
- 0.1 BTC = 10,000,000 sats = 1 deciBitcoin (dBTC)
- 0.01 BTC = 1,000,000 sats = 1 centiBitcoin (cBTC)
- 0.001 BTC = 100,000 sats = 1 milliBitcoin (mBTC)
- 0.000001 BTC = 100 sats = 1 microBitcoin (μBTC)
- 0.00000010 BTC = 10 sats = 1 finney
Final Thoughts
- Every bitcoin contains 100 million satoshis.
- Sats make Bitcoin practical for everyday use and microtransactions.