Satoshi
The smallest unit of bitcoin, equal to 0.00000001 BTC.
A satoshi, often shortened to “sat,” is the smallest unit of bitcoin. One bitcoin is divisible into 100,000,000 satoshis, so 1 satoshi equals 0.00000001 BTC. The unit is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, but in everyday crypto use it most commonly refers to this tiny denomination rather than the person.
Satoshis matter because bitcoin’s price can make whole BTC amounts feel impractical for small payments, fees, or balances. Quoting amounts in sats lets people talk about smaller values more easily, similar to how cents are used for dollars. For example, instead of saying a transaction fee is 0.00002500 BTC, a wallet might show it as 2,500 sats. This makes bitcoin easier to use and compare, especially for everyday transactions, Lightning Network payments, and small test transfers.
Other terms in Bitcoin
ASIC
A specialized computer chip built to do one task very efficiently, commonly used in Bitcoin mining to perform hashing calculations.
BTC
The ticker symbol for bitcoin, the native currency of the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin
A decentralized digital currency and payment network that lets people send value without relying on a bank or central authority.
Block Height
A block height is the number that shows a block’s position in a blockchain, counted from the first block.