Questions concerned with the number of subunits of a bitcoin, and the rules governing divisibility.
Questions tagged [divisibility]
37 questions
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What is a 'Satoshi'?
I am aware that Satoshi Nakamoto is the author of the paper that originated Bitcoin and the creator of the original bitcoin client. However, I often hear the term Satoshi as if it was a monetary unit.
What is a Satoshi?
nmat
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Will we ever need smaller amounts of Bitcoin than a Satoshi?
Will there ever be a need to create a unit of Bitcoin smaller than a Satoshi?
See also: What is a 'Satoshi'?
ripper234
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Why is Bitcoin defined as having 8 decimal places?
At the protocol level bitcoins don't actually exists, but rather base units (recently called “satoshis”). Bitcoins are defined as 108 base units, meaning that for a 50 BTC mining reward, you are actually earning 5 000 000 000 units.
So, why was 108…
Arturo Torres Sánchez
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Why can we have small fractions of a Bitcoin?
I didn't study the inner workings of Bitcoin (yet), but already since when I just started using it, I wondered why a Bitcoin can be split up in parts.
Because there is a limit on the amount of Bitcoin that can be mined ever, fractioning Bitcoins is…
Steven Roose
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Is "bitcoin" a countable noun?
Should "bitcoin" be used as a countable noun admitting a singular and a plural (so that one says "600 bitcoins are in this wallet") or as a mass noun, (like "water" or "money") (so that one says "How much bitcoin is used every day throughout the…
Michael Hardy
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What is a millisatoshi? I thought satoshi is the smallest unit?
I encountered 'millisatoshi' (msat) while browsing Lightning Network..., see screenshoot below:
And subsequently I found it mentioned here:…
Rosdi Kasim
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If there a formula to decide when more decimal places will be added to Bitcoin?
I know it is possible to allow for more than 8 decimal places in Bitcoin. We all hope that Bitcoin will become extremely valuable one day and increments smaller than 0.00000001 BTC will be helpful.
Has the decision of when this will occur already…
Mary Johnson
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Is the value of "satoshi" fixed or dynamic?
BitCoin Wiki (Transactions) states:
...1 BTC = 100,000,000 Satoshi...
Yet BitCoin Wiki (FAQ) states:
..."satoshi"... is smallest denomination currently possible
In the future when the protocol decides to support more decimal places, will the…
Pacerier
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What is a mBTC?
I have been trying to find out just what is an mBTC is. Everywhere I look I cannot find out what the value is compared to a Bitcoin.
I was hoping you could advise me of what the value is.
jock courtney
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What are Tonal Bitcoins?
What are Tonal Bitcoins? In what application is this system of notation superior to the decimal notation? Are there any clients or other services supporting the tonal system?
ThePiachu
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What makes millisatoshi real?
In the Lightning Network, it's possible to pay in units a thousandth of a satoshi, a millisatoshi.
But you can't redeem them directly on the main chain when closing a channel, it will be subject to a round error, your value will be 'trimmed' of some…
Osias Jota
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Is it possible to buy half of a full bitcoin?
I've noticed that certain products online do not require a full bitcoin to purchase. My question is do you need to start with one full bitcoin in order to make a purchase of such items?
Jerry All
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Why exactly would adding further divisibility to bitcoin require a hard fork?
There are quite a few threads already on this topic, but they all focus on the necessity or possibility for such a change. I understand that, even though it is difficult and would obviously require broad consensus, adding more decimal points to…
sutterseba
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How divisible are ripples?
How divisible are ripples (XRP)? With 100 billion of the currency units being created at system inception one could assume that they are akin to satoshis, but during the operation of the system I found my balance being charged sub-ripple amounts for…
ThePiachu
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Can bitcoins be split up into greater than a billion parts?
I understand that, at time of writing, splitting a bitcoin into more than 10⁸ parts is not useful. However, say that in the far future enough bitcoins have been destroyed (through deleted wallets due to negligence or whatever else) that a billionth…
Christian Chapman
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