Understanding Bitcoin as Money is one of the biggest barriers to people actually adopting the digital currency. How does Bitcoin break down into £ & pence as a comparison to what we are traditionally used to in our trouser pockets?
Bitcoin denominations – Bitcoin in real terms is no different to the £ Pound the $ dollar and the € euro in its mark as a denominator of currency.
Many people have difficulty in relating the Bitcoin to physical currency as they cannot see it and touch it so here we have put together a guide to try and help you understand the Bitcoin currency.
In the same way that the £ Pound $ dollar and € euro is segmented into pence and cents the Bitcoin is also broken into various smaller and indeed larger denominations. It has been suggested unofficially the sub-bitcoin unit is known as MilliBit or the “Mille” (the equivalent to pence of a pound) one thousand milliBits (or 1000 “millie”) refers to 1 bitcoin or 1 BTC. Even so the Bitcoin can be diluted even further than 1 “Millie” the smallest value being known as “satoshi” after the illusive inventor of Bitcoin.
We have stuck to decimals in our guide below to make it easier to relate.
| Name | Bitcoin Value | Our symbolic equivalent to aid in understanding (*not the value! Not even close!) |
| decabitcoin | 10 | £10* |
| millbitcoin | 2.68435456 | £2* coin |
| Bitcoin | 1 BTC | £1* or GPB marker (Click for actual market value) |
| sanbitcoin | 0.16777216 | 50p* coin |
| decibitcoin | 0.1 | 20p* coin |
| tonbitcoin | 0.01048576 | 10p* coin |
| centibitcoin | 0.01 | 2p* coin |
| millibitcoin | 0.001 | 1p* coin |
| To take Bitcoin to its smallest values:- | ||
| microbitcoin | 0.000001 | *Bag of peanuts |
| bitcoinmill | 0.00000016 | *peanuts in a shell |
| bitcoinbong | 0.00000001 | *a peanut |
| “satoshi” | 0.00000001 | *peanut powder!!! |
For a full explanation of the Bitcoin SI units please visit the Wiki guide here and view the discussions on the “Millie” here.