Assets, Bitcoin

How Many Units Is a Bitcoin?

A bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public dispersed ledger called a blockchain.

Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services.

As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.

NOTE: WARNING: Investing in Bitcoin is a high-risk activity. There is no guarantee of success, and the price of Bitcoin can fluctuate significantly. You should always conduct your own research and due diligence before investing in any cryptocurrency or other financial instrument. The units of measurement for Bitcoin vary, so it is important to understand the terminology used when discussing digital currencies.

The unit of account of the bitcoin system is a bitcoin. Ticker symbols used to represent bitcoin are BTC and XBT. Its Unicode character is ₿. Small amounts of bitcoin used as alternative units are millibitcoin (mBTC), and satoshi (sat).

Named in homage to its creator, a satoshi is the smallest amount within bitcoin representing 0.00000001 bitcoins, one hundred millionth of a bitcoin.

A frequently asked question is “How many units is a bitcoin?” The answer is there are 21 million bitcoins in total. This number cannot be increased as it is hard-coded into the protocol.

Each bitcoin can be divided into 100 million satoshis (also known as ‘bits’).

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