Bitcoin Base Unit Change Proposal Sparks Debate over “Sats” vs. “Bits”

Author: Brayden Lindrea, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

A recent proposal to change the basic unit of Bitcoin to make it easier to understand as a payment tool has been opposed. Critics say that Bitcoin's "satoshi" is no more confusing than the US dollar's "cents".

Bitcoin developer John Carvalho proposed Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 177 on April 23, which aims to eliminate the concept of "satoshi" (1 Bitcoin equals 100 million satoshis) and effectively split the fixed supply of 21 million Bitcoins into 21 quadrillion units.

Previously, Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song proposed in 2017 to create "bits" to represent one millionth of 1 Bitcoin. However, Carvalho said that Song's approach still requires Bitcoin users to think about decimals and "shifts complexity instead of eliminating it."

Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey was among those calling for the change, saying in a May 18 X post that satoshis were too confusing for newcomers.

“Bits of Bitcoin are better, and Bitcoin itself is the best,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey referenced a December 2024 discussion on the topic, when Stevie Lee, head of product at bitcoin infrastructure company Spiral, noted that not many people knew or cared what a satoshi was.

“Everyone knows bitcoin, but no one knows satoshis, and people just want to send and receive bitcoin,” Lee said, recalling past conversations when people thought satoshis were a brand new token unrelated to bitcoin.

He added that the bitcoin community shouldn’t worry too much about the change because they know the underlying economics of bitcoin will remain the same.

Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten and Byte Federal product director Michelle Weekley are among those who have opposed the change.

“People understand that a dollar is equal to a few cents, and they understand that a bitcoin is equal to a few satoshis,” Weekley said on X.

Self-proclaimed bitcoin consultant Magdalena Gronowska claimed the change could lead some to believe that bitcoin’s price has suddenly plummeted from its current price of around $100,000, and its “supply has been massively inflated.”

Parker Lewis, head of business development at Zaprite, believes that SAT is easier to understand. Source: Parker Lewis

Bitcoin founder is open to this

Robin Linus, founder of the Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BitVM), stressed that even Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, is willing to change the way Bitcoin units are displayed in order to improve usability.

“If dealing with small numbers gets annoying, we can change where the decimal point is displayed,” Nakamoto said in a February 2010 post before disappearing the following year.

“The amount is the same, it’s just a convention,” Nakamoto added.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s comments on the change in bitcoin’s unit base in February 2010. Source: Bitcointalk

No improvements have been implemented to the Bitcoin network since the Taproot upgrade in November 2021, which was designed to increase Bitcoin’s speed, efficiency, and privacy.