In a recent tweet, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has made a case for exchanges replacing Bitcoin with the satoshi, the smallest unit of the largest cryptocurrency that equals 0.00000001 BTC. He explains that “too many people” find the whole thing “too expensive” at current prices.
The billionaire calls on Coinbase, Binance, FTX, and Gemini to adopt the satoshi as the quote currency to make the largest crypto more attractive for the average Joe.
Named after Bitcoin’s eponymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, the unit was originally proposed by BitcoinTalk user Ribuck back in November 2010. It eventually gained currency within the community.
Leading cryptocurrency tracking site CoinMarketCap added SATS to the list of coins earlier this week, possibly making the unit more mainstream. At press time, one satoshi is trading at $0.0005.
Mike Bucella, general partner at BlockTower, claims that exchanges adopting the smaller unit would be “the psychological stock split” that would encourage more people to get involved.
According to billionaire Mark Cuban, the excitement that comes with owning the whole thing might explain the rise of meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin:
It’s hard for someone with $100 to get excited about owning a fraction of BTC or ETH. It’s easy with doge.
The discoverability problem
As enticing as it might sound, switching to sats is not an easy task for exchanges. Kraken CEO Jesse Powell explains such factors as user experience and discoverability have to be taken into account:
Have to think through the UX, discoverability. 99% of new users coming in will be looking for bitcoin/BTC and have no idea what a satoshi/sat is. Don’t want to confuse them.
Square’s Cash App added sats back in December, but not a single major exchange has made such a move yet.
