Home / News / Technology / Blockchain / Satoshis vs. Bitcoins: Bip-177 Proposes No More ‘Confusing’ Decimals
Blockchain
3 min read

Satoshis vs. Bitcoins: Bip-177 Proposes No More ‘Confusing’ Decimals

Published
James Morales
Published
By James Morales
Edited by Insha Zia
Key Takeaways
  • BIP-177 proposes renaming Bitcoin’s base unit as “one bitcoin”.
  • Proponents of the change argue that using decimal places to describe bitcoin values generates confusion.
  • Prominent voices in the crypto community, including Jack Dorsey, support the proposal.

A recent Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) proposes replacing “satoshis” with “Bitcoins” as the system’s base unit.

Proponents of BIP-177 argue that the practice of representing small Bitcoin values in decimals causes unnecessary confusion.

By redefining one satoshi as one Bitcoin, they hope to better align user perception with the protocol’s underlying design.

Bitcoin Decimals

At its heart, Bitcoin is a monetary system that uses satoshis, or “sats,” as its fundamental unit.

Current convention defines one Bitcoin as 100,000,000 satoshis.

Considering the low value of single satoshis historically, users have gotten used to referring to BTC values in terms of larger bitcoins, for example, describing 1,000 sats as 0.01 Bitcoin.

While this approach saves users from having to deal with large values, BIP-177 notes that Bitcoin’s ledger represents values as integral base units. Meanwhile, “the decimal point is merely a human-imposed abstraction.”

By making the base unit the standard measure, the proposal aims to “simplify user comprehension, reduce confusion, and align on-chain values directly with their displayed representation.”

A Stock Split for Bitcoin

What BIP-177 proposes is something like a stock split for Bitcoin that would reflect the reality of cryptocurrency values in 2025 and the expected trajectory of the price of BTC in the years to come.

Publicly traded companies readjust their share values to enable smaller and more precise trades as their market capitalization increases.

Similarly, as Bitcoin’s market cap has increased, the once-minuscule satoshi now marks important price differences.

At $100,000 per Bitcoin, one satoshi equals $0.001. If BTC hits $1 million, 1 satoshi would be worth one cent.

BIP-177 suggests adjusting the cryptocurrency’s phraseology to reflect the non-negligible value of the base unit.

BIP-177 Gains Support

Since it was proposed by Bitcoin developer John Carvalho earlier in May, BIP-177 has gained support from prominent voices in the crypto community.

In an X post on May 16, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey posted that “sats is definitely the wrong term and is stopping everyday people from acquiring and spending bitcoin.”

After discussing the topic repeatedly on X, Dorsey officially threw his weight behind Carvalho’s proposal on Monday, May 19.

Dorsey also reposted comments from the developer of Bitkit Wallet pointing out that they had effectively implemented the alternative nomenclature a year ago.

“Result: Zero confused users. It just looks and feels ‘right,’” the post stated .

Was this Article helpful? Yes No
James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation. With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
See more
loading
loading