The Whole Coin Myth
Bitcoin Myths Part 11
Imagine attending a pizza party with 20 friends. But when you get there, you see there’s only one small pizza. You look closer at the delicious, pepperoni-laden pizza in front of your eyes and see eight small slices. Someone is going to go hungry!
But what if the pizza was magical? What if every time you cut a slice in half, it was still enough food for a grown man? There was still only one pizza, and it didn’t get any bigger, but each smaller slice somehow packed enough punch to satisfy your appetite.
The Whole Coin Myth
Many people hear about Bitcoin’s 21 million coin limit and assume two things:
They are priced out of Bitcoin.
There isn’t enough Bitcoin to go around for the world to adopt it.
This is an understandable mistake. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $63,000 (as of June 21, 2026), 1 so a middle-class family certainly can’t afford to casually buy a whole Bitcoin. And if there are only 21 million coins, it seems obvious that there wouldn’t be enough to run a global economy.
But that’s not how Bitcoin works.
The Satoshi
Imagine the whole world adopts Bitcoin and it replaces the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency. I’m not saying this will happen. For the sake of argument, let’s assume it does and see why the satoshi matters so much.
Bitcoin is known for its 21 million coin limit, but each coin can be divided into eight decimal places. The smallest unit of Bitcoin is called a satoshi (sat). While there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin (by 2140), there are 2.1 quadrillion satoshis. With an estimated 8.1 billion people on the planet, that’s enough for each person to own roughly 259,000 sats.
Remember the pizza I described above? Bitcoin is a lot like that. At first, it looks like there isn’t enough because there’s a limited supply. But when you cut it into smaller pieces, you find it somehow “grows.”
And if, for some reason, eight decimal places aren’t enough, adding a ninth or tenth decimal place is no problem. Bitcoin can be divided into an infinite number of decimal places if it ever needs to. 2
Bitcoin Pizza Party!
There’s enough Bitcoin to go around. Yes, buying early can make you wealthy. But you don’t need to own a whole coin. Maybe your goal is 0.01 BTC, 0.1 BTC, or even 0.5 BTC. You don’t need the whole thing.
You don’t need to bet the farm on Bitcoin. You just need enough that if Bitcoin takes over the world, you’re glad you bought some. There’s only enough for everyone to get 0.00259 BTC if it were split up equally. Even a relatively small amount like 0.01 BTC could give you an enormous advantage.
Nobody needs to eat a whole pizza. They just need enough to fill their bellies. The same goes for Bitcoin.
Final Word
Remember, you’re not priced out of Bitcoin; you just need to stack sats instead of becoming a whole coiner.
“Though she be but little, she is fierce.”
— William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Disclaimer:
The information in this publication is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research before making any financial decisions. Cryptocurrency investments carry risk, and past performance is not indicative of future results. I actively invest and trade in the crypto markets, and my personal portfolio and holdings change frequently. Nothing I share should be interpreted as a guarantee of performance or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset.
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/
https://www.learnbitcoin.com/rabbit-hole/bitcoin-units