Satoshi

What Is a Satoshi (SATs)?

Like the pence adds up to a Pound, or cents add up to a Dollar, Cryptocurrencies also have smaller units to add up to the main currency unit. Satoshis add up to become a single unit of Bitcoin (BTC). 

 The difference is that, unlike fiat currencies, a Satoshi is not the hundredth part of Bitcoin. Instead, it has been set at one hundredth million of a Bitcoin. This makes a Satoshi worth 0.00000001 BTC. The name stems from Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for the person commonly known as the father of Bitcoin. 

A Practical Way to Manage Small Payments 

In common usage, both Satoshi and Satoshis, and the abbreviations SAT, and S is commonly used in crypto platforms.  

Having cryptocurrencies have smaller components has become essential as the worth of 1 Bitcoin is so high that having it divisible into units is very practical. Keeping it to just two decimal places was also impractical as the worth of Bitcoin is hundreds of millions. The value of 0.5 BTC would end up in thousands of dollars, which makes it impractical to have large fractions as the currency units. 

Smaller fractions were necessary and are commonly used to pay platform and transaction fees. They are also helpful in micropayments used on different crypto platforms for charges.