Bitcoin Forum

I'm fairly new to the Bitcoin world and am wondering about the the handling of Bitcoin after it has been split.  First off, when a coin gets split, what do the characters look like? Are they new characters, or is it the same base character with a decimal corresponding to the fraction of a coin? Secondly, how is it possible to reconnect fractional portions of a Bitcoin? I would think there has to be some way to reconstruct, but how can that happen when the fractions are held by multiple addresses?

Bitcoin is represented as a digital ledger. It does not "split" like you are thinking. It is divisible. One Bitcoin can be divided into 100 million smaller pieces called satoshis. Therefore, if I had 1BTC and sent someone half of it, I am sending them 50 million satoshis. Ultimately, it is still just digits on a digital ledger. There is nothing physical about it, so there is neither "splitting" nor "joining".

Everything is recorded in the blockchain.

If you want to grasp every piece together, you can read about UTXOs (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5502785.msg64317778#msg64317778).

That makes sense, thanks for clearing that up! So basically, instead of thinking of it like breaking a coin in half, it's more like just moving numbers around on a digital record.

But when you make multiple small transactions over time, does that clutter your wallet with too many inputs, or does it affect the transaction fees later on? Just trying to understand how it all adds up in the background.

A fraction of bitcoin is just like the cent of the fiat. Example 100 cents makes $1 while 50 cents $0.50 is half of $1. So ideally cents are part or fractions of $.
In bitcoin a fraction is called satoshi which means the value isn't up to 1 bitcoin. 100,000,000 makes 1 bitcoin.
And as a matter of fact, whatever value of bitcoin that's not up to 1 bitcoin is a fraction of bitcoin. So ideally for example, half of 1 bitcoin is 50,000,000 Satoshi in figure is 0.50 satoshi.
So if you have different wallets with values that isn't equivalent to 1 bitcoin per wallet but when combines them in their Satoshi values and it amounts up to 10,000,000 Satoshi's, you can literally be said to own 1 bitcoin in an overall.

Bitcoin has 8 decimal digits and its base unit is the satoshi. So, 1 bitcoin equals 100 million satoshis or sat.
Bitcoin uses an UTXO model and the topic linked above can help you understand how all of this works.

If we take Stalker’s example: if you have 1 btc on your wallet and send 0.5btc to someone else then you will create two outputs (UTXOs), 0.5 btc to that person and 0.5 btc (minus fees) back to your wallet as change. This is what you referred o as "splitting"
If you have multiple UTXOs on your wallet and you send them to someone else or to one of your addresses, you will join them into a single new UTXO, which you referred to as "reconstructing".

Don't make it complicated to yourself. Those "split" Bitcoins have their smaller units called satoshis, mBTC or whichever you prefer because they're still Bitcoins.

Just think of how fiat was made in small fractions, it's got pennies, a buck, a hundred and a thousands. They're still all the same and someone merging or adding the others remains the same.

So, if you're adding the fractions, it's not a thing to be problematic with because it casually just adds up the amount.

When you make a transaction, it doesn't matter whether all your inputs are assosiated with a single address or you are spending the fund from multiple addresses.
Take note that there is no bitcoin address at the protocol level at all. Your bitcoin address actually represents a locking script and when you make a transaction, you create an unlocking script for each of the inputs, even if they are all assosiated with the same address.

Read about Bitcoin UTXOs, transaction outputs and Bitcoin units can help you understand more about this.

[Did you know?] Bitcoin Table of Units (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5239694)
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/transaction/utxo/
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/guide/outputs/

Yeah, pretty much. There arent any real coins jingling in your pocket or anything. Bitcoin is all digital, just lines of code tracking Unspent Transaction Outputs, or UTXOs. But whenever I try to break this down for someone, I always end up using the wallet analogy. Picture this: UTXOs are kinda like the random bills youve got stuffed in your wallet - say, a €10, a €50, and a €5. Together you get €65, but its not one single bill. Its a handful of separate notes, all mashed together to make up your actual balance.


Yes, it does clutter your wallet in a way.  If you receive lots of small amounts of bitcoin over time, then you will end up with a lot of small UTXOs in your wallet (like having a wallet full of €1 coins instead of one €100 bill). When you want to send some larger amount, your wallet has to gather all of these small UTXOs to equal the amount you want to send. And, since Bitcoin transaction fees are mostly based on the size of your transaction in kilobytes (KB), not the amount of Bitcoin you are sending, this absolutely affects the amount of transaction fees. Each small UTXO your wallet has to use adds data to your transaction, making it larger in size. So, if your wallet has to combine 100 small UTXOs to send 1 BTC, that transaction will be much larger (and thus more expensive) than if it only needed to use 1 large UTXO to send the same 1 BTC.

This is the reason some people choose to "consolidate" their UTXOs when fees are very low. They send a single transaction to themselves that combines several small UTXOs together which will make any future transactions much cheaper.

I don't think you can grasp everything immediately, I would advise you to devote your time to read through this topic as many information has been shared.
It's simple if you dedicate yourself to reading and whatever you don't understand you can as well ask questions or even Google it to have a clearer view of how it functions.

even better than reading about it, or at least as a complementary study it is worth to check how the blockchain works on transactions

check a block explorer, there are many, this is one
https://blockchair.com/

another way is simply using bitcoin
buy some, move some to a hardware wallet,
pay something with it

then things start to make more sense

^^
Personally, I believe it’s better to read about how bitcoin works before you start using it. You need, at least, to learn the basics.
I remember reading many topics on this board and the technical support board where members were asking why they see two receiving addresses when they sent to an only recipient and asking what happened to the remaining balance. Those members bought bitcoin and spent it, but because they had no clue about how it works, they thought that the change address was a scam address.
So, no. This is not something you learn just by practicing,  you need to understand how it works, at east, at the basic level.

We are so used to how Bitcoin and other cryptos work that we're almost blind for alternatives that wouldn't be so illogical. Like when children ask questions that make a lot of sense but adults would've never thought about them because we are educated to think otherwise.

As others said, one Bitcoin is not worth more than the sum of its parts, although it could've been designed otherwise! which would be interesting, but would complicate things unnecessarily IMO.

Basic questions like this often arise in the minds of Newbies who are new to and want to learn about Bitcoin.
So here it is, "1 BTC = 100,000,000 SAT (the smallest unit of Bitcoin), each Sat has a value proportional to the value of Bitcoin. When Bitcoin is split into its smallest parts "Sat" its appearance and character do not change significantly because it still has the same character as its parent coin "1 BTC", only its value (after being split) will be smaller.
Bitcoin does not have a physical form like other traditional objects or assets (gold), to recombine small pieces of Bitcoin stored in several different wallets, you can make a transaction to reconstruct the pieces into a single address.

I think you can do both simultaneously
specially if you start small, investing 5 or 10 usd, sending a tx to check, even doing more advanced stuff like buying a cheap ordinal or swapping some BTC to ETH
understanding self-custody, buying a hw and learning how to make a safe backup

it's a whole new world for those just starting

Hi there,

I am fairly new here too. You may even know more than me. However, I did some research and I am find that Bitcoin doesn’t use “characters” for coins. Values are just numbers in satoshis (1 BTC = 100,000,000 sats). Wallets display decimals for convenience.

When it comes to splitting, Bitcoin uses the UTXO model (like banknotes). If you spend 1 BTC to send 0.2 BTC, the old “note” is destroyed and two new ones appear: 0.2 BTC to your friend and ~0.8 BTC back to you as change.

As for reconnecting, you can combine multiple UTXOs you control by spending them all in one transaction and sending the total (minus fees) to yourself. That makes a new single UTXO.

Regarding multiple addresses, If they’re all in your wallet, no problem, the wallet pulls them together. If different owners hold them, they’d need to co-sign a transaction.

Bitcoin is a system of spendable chunks (UTXOs). You split them by making multiple outputs, and you reconnect them by using multiple inputs in one transaction.

I hope any of this information helos.

Bitcoin smaller unit is sats while some may decide to call it Satoshi, all you need to understand here is about the conversions and that all, then if you're talking about the decimal places, then this also should be an issue, as long as what you're sending is within the limit to what a block must contain, as everything works by protocols in bitcoin network, if you cant send some fractions, then later after receiving more transactions, they may be included and be sent along in the future transaction and this is what happens whereby on every bitcoin wallet address, you will still deduce there is a smaller fraction in like 0.000000023 btc for instance, which are those expressed for sats.

You did not understand it.

bitcoin is btc.
satoshi is sat.

bitcoin and satoshi or btc and sat are only different writing ways for mentioning about same units of bitcoin. Your teaching can be very confusing with newbies and they might understand inacurately about Bitcoin units.

I think you are both actually right. However, I think newbies sometimes need to know some things that are a little confusing, so it can encourage them to learn more about it, and this has the potential to be informative for other newbies who read this. In addition, I will provide some explanatory references related to this, please see these : Bitcointalk.org @Obim34 - BTC/SAT/μBTC/mBTC (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5497614.msg64118770#msg64118770) & Investopedia - Satoshi in Bitcoin: What It Is and How Much It Is Worth (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/satoshi.asp)

Whatever form it mayy pronounced or identified, it's still all directed to acknowledge the figure of bitcoin. Satoshi of course is just decimal figure that denotes fractios of bitcoin and figuratively, Satoshi's (sats) is an element (particles) that makes up bitcoin (Btc). So We can just say Sats are small units that expresses about the measures of Btc.

If Bitcoin didn't have fractions or sats I don't think that it's adoption will be as fast as it's going now, a lot of people won't afford to hold 1 Bitcoin and it will surely affect its value because demand will be very low. Almost everybody can hold some fractions of Bitcoin in Satoshi, the amount that you hold determines the value in your possession. The fractions of your Bitcoin remains what it is in the Blockchain, what changes is the value, it can either dip or rally. Many newbies will not understand this, even when they buy in sats they will panic if they see the value decreasing, proper knowledge is important.

If for example you have multiple inputs coming from fractions of bitcoin sent to your wallet over time, they are called UTXOs and if you want to make a transaction that you've to use two or more of those inputs, it increases the transaction weight as compared to making the transaction from just one UTXO and you would end up paying more fees. A way to go around this is targeting when the fee rate is low and consolidating your multiple UTXOs to a single address (more like joining them together as a single UTXO in a new address still in the same wallet if you wish). This is achieved by sending all of your inputs to a new address and paying a little fee since the fee rate is low as against possibly initiating a transaction when the fee rate is high and paying higher fees each time you make a transaction that involves more that a single UTXO in your wallet.

And that's why many are misled thinking that if someone talks to them about investing in Bitcoin, they think that they need to hold 1 whole of it but they're wrong. All they need is to buy any amount they're able to and they can hold it for as long as they can.

That's a typical beginner reaction. We all have been through that experience and that's why we're here to tell them that every correction and sudden dumps are pretty normal.

The explanation looks complex for a newbie even though that’s the right explanation to the question but let’s explain it in simplified form.

Since Bitcoin has value I think it is better we use its price to explain this proper.
No matter the fraction of Bitcoin it is, it has value, so you can explain it everything based on the value.
Buy as much as you can because buying 1BTC is for the rich people, some of us that can’t afford it should keep buying in fractions using the DCA method to accumulate more before the price skyrockets.

Let me correct some of the errors you must have made unintentionally in this your post and at thesame time, answer some of your questions I deem neccessary.

• Firstly, bitcoin is not an object or whatever you think of it, it does not split. It is just series of figures that can be expressed in decimals. Just like your fiat, bitcoin is only divisible and cannot be splitted. I am sure you meant to say "divide" but only used the wrong word
• Secondly, I don't exactly know what you meant by "new characters" but like i said earlier,  your wallet will only show a decimal representation of your balance
• bitcoin is not that rigid, you can add and divide them as much as you want. You can reconnect these portions by sending from a different wallet address to your own address and the balance adds up. That simple.

And because of how fractional bitcoin is it makes it easy and affordable for people and if not for this mathematics I don't think people will have the funds to actually pay or be able to afford it and the issue now is that how many people can actually afford it because it's only the 1% of the 1% that can actually afford it so people need to just need to understand that and the idea of the 0. Is one of the best initiatives that Satoshi ever came up with because having this kind of reputation only few people will be able to afford it, but one way or the other still made it accessible for people to be able to buy will at least not less than 10 dollar so with this kind of settings it's has become a matter of choice for people to actually buy.