Remember the times when everyone thought that 1 mbtc is like having dust lying around the wallet. I have never looked it up, but I can imagine that lots of wallets have been abandoned or not been paid attention to because back at the time there was only 1 or 2 mbtc left in it. I am sure that a lot of consolidation transactions took place when bitcoin began to rise to these impressive prices.
I expect something similar for satoshis to happen. 1 satoshi is roughly 0.1 cents now.
Satoshi (sats) Bitcoin U.S. Dollar
1 Satoshi 0.00000001 Bitcoin $0.000941
10 Satoshi 0.00000010 Bitcoin $0.00941
100 Satoshi 0.00000100 Bitcoin $0.0941
1,000 Satoshi 0.00001000 Bitcoin $0.941
If bitcoin goes 10x, and this can happen faster than many people think, 1 satoshi is 1 cent.
I have been around when nobody was talking about 1 mbtc (millibits), now it has become the standard unit in most cases. The next step will be μBTC (bits = 100 satoshi) and that is when 10x is achieved and 1 bit is around $10.
That is why I recommend not treating any smaller left over amounts in wallets as dust and instead make sure private keys are kept and not thrown due to the disbelief that it could ever become worth something. I am sure there are so many dead bitcoin wallets out there when owners thought it is not worth noting the PKs because those few thousand satoshis aren't worth it.
I literally experience this before the bullrun started I usually do some swapping of token so then when I swap any token to bitcoin in my exchange there’s always this leftover of small unit of bitcoin and I don’t even take notice of them , so when the bullrun started I was having like 4,168 sats and I was not aware of it but after the surging in prices to the range of $60k I found out that I was having an extra $2.5 , then I found out that it was those little unit I didn’t even care to notice that have increased to that $2.5 , the funny thing is that one day may be it would have turn $4168 , then bitcoin price would be in the price range o $100,000,000 ( just saying ).
So is good to always keep your seed phrase safe , because one day that unit of bitcoin you considered small may turn up to be something beautiful someday .
Yes and you can only guess how many wallets there are with what the owners considered to be "dust". I have had that several times and it reminds me these minimum withdrawal amounts that exchanges imposed upon their users and therefore countless of satoshis couldn't be withdrawn. The exchanges can consolidate when fees are low and some of the exchanges don't even exist anymore, which means they don't face the risk of users trying to log into their accounts again.
The term "dust" has changed significantly over the years. 1 mbtc, which is 100,000 satoshis, used to be dust and many users thought it won't ever be worth moving that dust.
But I assume there is a shift going on in users' minds when they look at their wallets with leftover satoshis. The way these wallets are maintained or looked at has changed I suppose.