I really need this dumbed-down for me...

[alkb]

I have spent two hours reading about how to start and what bitcoins are and unfortunately nothing is really clicking.

I understand that I must obtain a wallet and then purchase coins to put in it, then use that as payment. Where I get confused is when everyone starts talking about the price of bitcoins and exchange and fluctuation. I feel like I need a series 7 to understand it.

Example: I want to make, say, $100 USD purchase. So the current price of a bitcoin is $629... obviously Im not required to spend $62,900 to make a $100 purchase. Can someone explain how this part works for me? I feel stupid like this should be obvious to me but it just isn't. And can someone explain this in a way that I can apply it to any purchase, so that I can look at any purchase price and figure out how many bitcoins (satoshi) are needed?

Thank you!
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[Fremont]

I have spent two hours reading about how to start and what bitcoins are and unfortunately nothing is really clicking.

I understand that I must obtain a wallet and then purchase coins to put in it, then use that as payment. Where I get confused is when everyone starts talking about the price of bitcoins and exchange and fluctuation. I feel like I need a series 7 to understand it.

Example: I want to make, say, $100 USD purchase. So the current price of a bitcoin is $629... obviously Im not required to spend $62,900 to make a $100 purchase. Can someone explain how this part works for me? I feel stupid like this should be obvious to me but it just isn't. And can someone explain this in a way that I can apply it to any purchase, so that I can look at any purchase price and figure out how many bitcoins (satoshi) are needed?

Thank you!
\

Hi there alkb,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Bitcoin!

Things can be a little confusing at first because of how innovative Bitcoin as a technology is, but rest assured once you get the basics the rest falls into place incredibly easily. Just a little tip to help ease you into things, when describing the technology itself - Bitcoin - it is usually written with an upper-case 'B'. The units of currency, "bitcoins" or a single "Bitcoin", are usually written with a lower-case 'b' for plural, or upper-case 'B' for singular. This is in no way important, it's just in case you're wondering why I capitalize some words and don't capitalize others!

To briefly answer your question, bitcoins are divisible down to 8 decimal places so you don't actually have to purchase a whole bitcoin.

To clarify using your example:

You want to purchase $100 worth of Bitcoin.
The current price of one Bitcoin is $757.76
100$ worth of Bitcoin = 0.131967905 BTC.
You can determine how much Bitcoin you will get for any amount by dividing the current price into that amount, so for $100 worth of Bitcoin we just divide $100 by $757.56 = 0.131967905 bitcoins.

You'll find everything you need to get you started by clicking the 'Start here' link in the menu bar at the top of this page.

You can see the current value in USD on a little 'ticker' beside the menu button in the top right corner of any page on the Bitcoin.com website. You can also use the Price Converter on our Tools page. Note that the price may vary slightly between these two due to them being sourced from different Bitcoin exchanges, but the difference will be negligible.

Please be sure only to buy bitcoins from reputable exchanges and individuals; a fairly thorough list of exchanges can be found on our Bitcoin exchanges page linked above. You can also buy bitcoins with a credit card on our 'Buy Bitcoin now' page.

To go a little deeper into things regarding smaller units of Bitcoin, this works similar to the way Dollars and cents work.
For example, you have 1 Dollar which consists of 100 cents. So the Dollar is divisible to 2 decimal places. However, Bitcoin is divisible to 8 decimal places. So where the smallest amount of Dollars you can have is 1 hundredth of a Dollar (1 cent), the smallest amount of Bitcoin you can have is 1 hundred millionth of a bitcoin (1 satoshi).

1 satoshi is the smallest possible piece of a Bitcoin and allows for transactions to occur that are much smaller than a full bitcoin, and there are 100,000,000 satoshis in every Bitcoin. That being said, Bitcoin is most commonly expressed in one of three denominations.

Let's pretend for a moment that 1 bitcoin = $700:

Bitcoin – BTC – (1 full Bitcoin) - 1 BTC = $700
milliBitcoin – mBTC – (1 thousandth of a bitcoin) - 0.001 BTC = $0.70
microBitcoin – uBTC – (1 millionth of a bitcoin) - 0.000001 BTC = $0.0007
Just in case you're wondering about a satoshi - (1 hundred millionth of a bitcoin) - 0.00000001 BTC = $0.000007

Generally speaking, you'll only really talk about Bitcoin in terms of whole bitcoins and milliBitcoins.

Don't worry about the details above too much though; once you get set up with a wallet and receive your first bitcoins it'll all become a lot clearer!

[Rmcdermott927]

I have spent two hours reading about how to start and what bitcoins are and unfortunately nothing is really clicking.

I understand that I must obtain a wallet and then purchase coins to put in it, then use that as payment. Where I get confused is when everyone starts talking about the price of bitcoins and exchange and fluctuation. I feel like I need a series 7 to understand it.

Example: I want to make, say, $100 USD purchase. So the current price of a bitcoin is $629... obviously Im not required to spend $62,900 to make a $100 purchase. Can someone explain how this part works for me? I feel stupid like this should be obvious to me but it just isn't. And can someone explain this in a way that I can apply it to any purchase, so that I can look at any purchase price and figure out how many bitcoins (satoshi) are needed?

Thank you!
\

Bitcoins are fully divisible up to 8 decimal places. So, if the price of BTC is $756. you would get 0.1322 BTC. In other news, where are you finding bitcoin at $629, as I'd like to buy every single one I can get at that price.

[Fremont]

Bitcoins are fully divisible up to 8 decimal places. So, if the price of BTC is $756. you would get 0.1322 BTC. In other news, where are you finding bitcoin at $629, as I'd like to buy every single one I can get at that price.

See this is why I need to learn how to sum things up.

You literally explained in 2 - 3 sentences what it took me half a page to write out.

Also, to the OP: I mentioned it in my long post, but it bears repeating here just in case it's missed:

Please be sure only to buy bitcoins from reputable exchanges and individuals; a fairly thorough list of exchanges can be found on our Bitcoin exchanges page linked above. You can also buy bitcoins with a credit card on our 'Buy Bitcoin now' page.

[bitkilo]

Bitcoins are fully divisible up to 8 decimal places. So, if the price of BTC is $756. you would get 0.1322 BTC. In other news, where are you finding bitcoin at $629, as I'd like to buy every single one I can get at that price.

See this is why I need to learn how to sum things up.

You literally explained in 2 - 3 sentences what it took me half a page to write out.

Also, to the OP: I mentioned it in my long post, but it bears repeating here just in case it's missed:

Please be sure only to buy bitcoins from reputable exchanges and individuals; a fairly thorough list of exchanges can be found on our Bitcoin exchanges page linked above. You can also buy bitcoins with a credit card on our 'Buy Bitcoin now' page.

And don't forget to mention that if they are purchasing btc from an unknown person then always use a reputable escrow provider, OgNasty is a member here and often handles escrow for members if needed.

[Decoded]

Think about Bitcoin as a divisible asset. For example, Gold. A Troy ounce is, say, $1000. If you want to be $100 of gold, you won't get $100000 of gold, you would get 0.1 Troy ounces of gold.

Same thing. If you want $20 worth of a bitcoin @ $621, you want to first find what $1 of Bitcoin is. So we divide 1 by 621. This means that $1 is 0.001610305958132. then you want $20, so you multiply $1 by 20. So $20 is 0.0322061191626409 Bitcoin, or just 0.0322. the other numbers make no differentce.

[bitkilo]

Think about Bitcoin as a divisible asset. For example, Gold. A Troy ounce is, say, $1000. If you want to be $100 of gold, you won't get $100000 of gold, you would get 0.1 Troy ounces of gold.

Same thing. If you want $20 worth of a bitcoin @ $621, you want to first find what $1 of Bitcoin is. So we divide 1 by 621. This means that $1 is 0.001610305958132. then you want $20, so you multiply $1 by 20. So $20 is 0.0322061191626409 Bitcoin, or just 0.0322. the other numbers make no differentce.

Good way to break it down Decoded but some would kill you if they heard you say those other numbers make no difference, those leftover numbers probably represent a days wage for the faucet hounds out there, lol

I seen a thread here today that said you could make $0.35 if only the person you refer uses the site for at least 120 days, what a joke.

[Decoded]

Think about Bitcoin as a divisible asset. For example, Gold. A Troy ounce is, say, $1000. If you want to be $100 of gold, you won't get $100000 of gold, you would get 0.1 Troy ounces of gold.

Same thing. If you want $20 worth of a bitcoin @ $621, you want to first find what $1 of Bitcoin is. So we divide 1 by 621. This means that $1 is 0.001610305958132. then you want $20, so you multiply $1 by 20. So $20 is 0.0322061191626409 Bitcoin, or just 0.0322. the other numbers make no differentce.

Good way to break it down Decoded but some would kill you if they heard you say those other numbers make no difference, those leftover numbers probably represent a days wage for the faucet hounds out there, lol

I seen a thread here today that said you could make $0.35 if only the person you refer uses the site for at least 120 days, what a joke.

I guess maybe in a couple of years those numbers really will make a difference.

Let faucet hounds be faucet hounds. If theyre the type of people who leap in joy when they find a dollar on the ground, good for them.

[ian.jackson]

Thank you this was real informative to me too..I was reading and me as being lol ...