It is often said that there can ever be only 21 million Bitcoin in existence. This prompts people to say that it cannot be devalued like other currencies by printing more money, once the 21 million is reached.
However a bit coin is composed of 10^8 base units called satoshis. These are not just subdivisions of the base unit, they are base unit of which bitcoin is a product.
from stackexchange.com "Miners aren't awarded millions of "pieces": their accounts are just credited with an integer number of BTC base units ("satoshis")."
The total number of satoshis which can come into existence is therefore 2.1 by 10^15. Compare this with the number of USD in existence (using M2, cash and checking deposits, savings deposits, money market securities, mutual funds and other time deposits, as the definition of money) which is 1 by 10^10.
In other words there are 200,000 TIMES more satoshi in existence than USD. So while bitcoin cannot be devalued indefinitely, there is lots of scope.
However a bit coin is composed of 10^8 base units called satoshis. These are not just subdivisions of the base unit, they are base unit of which bitcoin is a product.
from stackexchange.com "Miners aren't awarded millions of "pieces": their accounts are just credited with an integer number of BTC base units ("satoshis")."
The total number of satoshis which can come into existence is therefore 2.1 by 10^15. Compare this with the number of USD in existence (using M2, cash and checking deposits, savings deposits, money market securities, mutual funds and other time deposits, as the definition of money) which is 1 by 10^10.
In other words there are 200,000 TIMES more satoshi in existence than USD. So while bitcoin cannot be devalued indefinitely, there is lots of scope.