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Benking 7 months ago
A Satoshi is the smallest divisible unit of Bitcoin on the base layer (Layer 1). One Bitcoin is equal to 100,000,000 Satoshis, and you cannot go smaller than a Satoshi on the Bitcoin blockchain itself—this is hardcoded into the protocol. Layer 1 (Base Layer) • Minimum unit: 1 Satoshi (0.00000001 BTC) • Not infinitely divisible — any smaller division would require a protocol-level change (which would be extremely difficult and controversial). ⸻ Layer 2 (e.g., Lightning Network) On Layer 2, things are more flexible. Some L2 protocols may represent or use fractions of a Satoshi in their internal accounting: • The Lightning Network, for example, allows the use of millisatoshis (msat) — where: • 1 sat = 1,000 msat • This enables finer granularity for routing fees and payments. So while the base layer is not infinitely divisible, Layer 2 solutions can allow sub-satoshi units through their own internal systems.