Fractional Bitcoin question from newby

[Jim4657]

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?

[Stalker22]

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".

[Obim34]

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?

Everything is recorded in the blockchain.

If you want to grasp every piece together, you can read about UTXOs.

[Dulen007]

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".

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.

[AVE5]

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?

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.

[khaled0111]

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".

[boyptc]

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.

[hosemary]

I would think there has to be some way to reconstruct, but how can that happen when the fractions are held by multiple addresses?

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.

[notocactus]

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?

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

[Did you know?] Bitcoin Table of Units
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/transaction/utxo/
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/guide/outputs/

[Stalker22]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[SmartGold01]

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.

[l3pox]

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?

Everything is recorded in the blockchain.

If you want to grasp every piece together, you can read about UTXOs.

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

[khaled0111]

^^
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.

[Porfirii]

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.

[reagansimms]

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?

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.

[l3pox]

^^
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.

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

[StreetWall Token]

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.

[348Judah]

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.

[Catenaccio]

Bitcoin smaller unit is sats while some may decide to call it Satoshi

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.

[Patikno]

Bitcoin smaller unit is sats while some may decide to call it Satoshi

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 & Investopedia - Satoshi in Bitcoin: What It Is and How Much It Is Worth