Solo Bitcoin Miner Hits Jackpot With $350,000 Block Reward

A solo Bitcoin miner recently achieved an extraordinary feat by successfully mining a block and earning a reward of $350,000. The miner accomplished this using a setup with a hashing power of 2.3 petahash per second (PH/s). This event is particularly noteworthy given the immense difficulty and competition in the Bitcoin mining landscape. The odds of a solo miner finding a block are incredibly low, making this achievement all the more remarkable.

The Bitcoin network's difficulty level is designed to adjust approximately every two weeks to ensure that blocks are mined at a consistent rate. This adjustment makes it increasingly challenging for solo miners to compete with large mining pools, which combine the hashing power of many miners to increase their chances of finding a block. Despite these odds, the solo miner in this case managed to secure a block, highlighting the potential rewards that can be reaped by those with sufficient hashing power and a bit of luck.

The $350,000 reward is a significant sum, but it is important to consider the costs associated with mining. These include the initial investment in mining hardware, electricity costs, and maintenance expenses. The miner's setup, with 2.3 PH/s of hashing power, would have required a substantial investment in specialized mining equipment. Additionally, the ongoing costs of electricity and cooling can be considerable, especially in regions where energy prices are high.

The success of this solo miner also raises questions about the future of Bitcoin mining. As the network's difficulty continues to increase, it becomes more challenging for individual miners to compete with large mining operations. This trend has led to a consolidation of mining power in the hands of a few large players, which can have implications for the decentralization of the Bitcoin network. However, the fact that a solo miner was able to achieve this feat suggests that there is still room for individual miners to participate in the network, albeit with significant investment and risk.

In February, another solo miner struck it big on block 883,181, which also yielded the 3.125 Bitcoin block reward, worth over $300,000 at the time. It was speculated that the lucky miner may have used a Bitaxe. Another solo miner struck digital gold in early June, successfully mining 899,826, earning a reward worth $330,000, which was even rarer amid record-high network difficulty. With solo mining, hashrate doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, as it is pure probability. A solo miner with 2.3 PH/s has roughly one in 375,300 chance per block at current difficulty levels.

While the exact specifications of the miner’s rig are unknown, they may have been using several older-generation ASIC miners, which can produce 2.3 petahashes per second of hashpower. Smaller hobbyist solo miners such as the Bitaxe Gamma, FutureBit Apollo BTC, or Canaan Avalon Nano 3, can only produce a few terahashes per second. Smaller still, USB miners such as the NerdMiner Pro v2 can only produce kilohashes per second and are very unlikely to hit the jackpot on a full block. To have a reasonable chance of mining one Bitcoin block per month, a solo miner would need around 166,000 TH/s of hash power. This is equivalent to almost 500 Antminer S21 Hydro units, which would cost millions of dollars in upfront investment.