Why does bitcoin have so many digits if I cannot move anything freely under 10000 satoshi?

Question

So I have a wallet which has a balance of BTC 0.00005493.

Even when trying to send these last bitcoin with a custom tx fee (1000 satoshi vs. the recommended 10000) Blockchain.info gives an error saying it is not possible to do so.

I know I can use a script called Dust-B-Gone to destroy these "small" amounts of bitcoin but I don't see the point. Why make bitcoins so divisible if anything under 10000 satoshi cannot even be moved around freely?

10000 satoshi is the current equivalent of a USD/EUR 5 cents coin! Are they not worth anything in cyberspace?

Answer 1

My assumption is that the limitation is set by BlockChain.info itself, to protect the non-educated users for doing transactions which may take days to confirm.

However raw Bitcoin protocol supports transaction with any amount and any fee. But because transactions are confirmed by miners they might not have economical incentive to care about dust-like transactions and thus the transaction confirmation time might not make sense anymore for the person who does the transaction.

More info: What's the minimum transaction with bitcoin?

Bitcoin transaction fee future:

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/2014/07/floating-fees-for-0-10/

More discussion about Bitcoin and microtransactions:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=397403.0

Answer 2

In the future, these small amounts of Bitcoins may be worth more. Right now, they're not worth the cost to transfer them. Bitcoin payments are a shared, public resource.

Answer 3

Also you might consider that setting the precision of the currency below the minimum transaction level confers resistance to Salami Slicing fraud attempts. (Also known as Penny Shaving, see linked article for more information).