Sats
BASICSDEFINITION
Satoshis — the smallest unit of bitcoin. One bitcoin is 100 million sats, so a whole coin is optional; everyone stacks sats.
Named for Satoshi Nakamoto, sats are how bitcoin is actually denominated in practice: Lightning invoices, mining payouts, and fee rates all speak sats. At most prices a US dollar buys somewhere in the hundreds-to-thousands of sats.
Thinking in sats fixes the "bitcoin is too expensive" illusion — you buy $25 of bitcoin the same way you buy $25 of gasoline, no whole units required.
IN A SENTENCE
“Lunch was 21,000 sats over Lightning.”
Key facts
Common questions
Can I buy less than one bitcoin?
Of course — any exchange sells fractions. Most people never own a whole coin, by design.
Will prices ever be quoted in sats?
Lightning commerce already does. Wider adoption is a cultural shift in progress.