SATs

Sats, short for satoshis, are the smallest unit of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. One bitcoin (BTC) equals 100,000,000 satoshis, making sats the common unit for expressing very small fractions of a bitcoin.

The name satoshi comes from Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. The plural form sats is widely used in casual and online discussions, while more formal references may use “satoshi” in singular or specify the unit as satoshis.

Sats are used to quote prices, measure on-chain data, and facilitate microtransactions without requiring large BTC amounts. They are especially relevant when Bitcoin’s price is high or when small payments are needed, such as tipping or paying for digital goods. Many wallets and exchanges now show balances and fees in sats, and some allow users to set quantities or thresholds in sats rather than BTC or fiat.

Because sats are simply a unit of measure tied to BTC, they do not constitute a separate currency or asset. Their value fluctuates with Bitcoin’s market price, and a sats value in fiat (for example USD) is derived from the BTC price.

Sats have become a practical standard for precision in discussions of scaling, transactions, and micropayments, reflecting Bitcoin’s fixed 8-decimal divisibility. See also Bitcoin, Satoshi, cryptocurrency units.