What is a Satoshi? The bitcoin / Satoshi Link

You are probably now aware of the pseudonymous character Satoshi Nakamoto credited for creating bitcoin. But you have likely come across the term “satoshi” being used in a slightly different context.

As you might know already, bitcoin is divisible to several small units. That is why you can buy bitcoin of practically any value.

A satoshi is the smallest unit of bitcoin recorded on the blockchain. One satoshi is the equivalent of one hundred millionth of a bitcoin the same way a penny is one hundredth of a pound.

A single bitcoin therefore has 8 decimal places. In other words, one bitcoin is the same as 100 million satoshis. A satoshi thus equal to 0.00000001 bitcoin.

As you might have already guessed, the name is a tribute to the creator of bitcoin. One bitcoin is currently trading at about $6800. A satoshi is therefore worth $0.000068 at the current rates if you divide the value of one bitcoin by 100 million.

If I decide to spend $100 to buy bitcoin, I will get roughly 0.01470558823 BTC. Obviously, these figures are not very comfortable to work with if you are shopping around.

Suppose we convert this to satoshi’s? That will be an equivalent of 1,470,588 satoshis. This is a more relatable figure than the previous one. We are not quite used to working with such small decimals in everyday ordinary life.

If bitcoin goes mainstream and gets used in daily transactions, it will make more sense to use satoshis to quote prices.

Bitcoin and satoshi as a standard under ISO 4217. These conversions are also commonly used.

• 1 BTC = 1,000 mBTC (millibitcoin)
• 1 BTC = 1,000,000 μBTC (microbitcoin)
• 1 BTC = 100,000,000 Satoshis
• 1 mBTC = 100,000 Satoshis
• 1 μBTC = 100 Satoshis

If you like

• 1 Satoshi = 0.00000001 ฿
• 100 Satoshi = 0.00000100 ฿
• 100,000 Satoshi = 0.00100000 ฿ = 1 em-bit (mBTC)
• 1,000,000 Satoshi = 0.01000000 ฿ = 1 bitcent (cBTC)
• 10,000,000 Satoshi = 0.10000000 ฿
• 100,000,000 Satoshi = 1.00000000 ฿

As discussed before, a satoshi is the smallest unit that can be recorded on the blockchain. However, further divisions are often used especially by payment channels.

Satoshis provide a very convenient way for marketers for instance to monetise and reward users for simple online tasks. This is not possible with ordinary fiat.

While this is the case, only a minimum of 547 satoshis or 0.00000547 BTC can be transacted on the network.

As you can see, converting bitcoin to satoshis or vice versa involves playing around with decimal places. You should be careful though. A missed decimal point while sending bitcoin can result in a significant loss of funds.

You can use the several bitcoin to satoshi calculators available online for your conversions. You can covert satoshi’s to just about any fiat currency e.g. Satoshi/USD, Satoshi/GBP, Satoshi/CNY.

These calculators often take into account the minute by minute fluctuations in bitcoin values, all the more reason you might want to use them.