Solo Miner Secures Full Bitcoin Block Reward
An individual bitcoin miner achieved a rare milestone on Sunday by solving block 913,593 and earning both the full subsidy and transaction fee reward. The total payout amounted to 3.129 BTC (about $347,980), according to data from the Bitcoin explorer.
One in 36,000 Chance Pays Off
The miner used CKpool�s solo-mining software and operated with just 200 terahashes per second (TH/s) of hashpower. CKpool developer Con Kolivas highlighted the low probability of such a miner solving a block, estimating the odds at about 1 in 36,000 per day � equivalent to once every 100 years on average.
The miner�s equipment is comparable to a single 2024 Bitmain Antminer S21 air-cooled unit. This solo hashpower represents only about 0.00002% of the estimated 1.04 zettahashes per second (ZH/s) total network hashrate, recorded on September 8. For comparison, leading public bitcoin mining firms can reach hashrates above 50 exahashes per second (EH/s).
The Bitcoin Mining Landscape
The overall Bitcoin network hashrate recently surpassed a zettahash, reflecting growing mining competition. Miners also face trends of decreasing fees, increased mining difficulty, and lower revenues per terahash.
- Solo mining offers a chance at the entire block reward, but carries extremely low probabilities for small operators.
- Larger miners generally use pools to earn proportional and more predictable rewards.
This is not the first remarkable win for a solo miner. In 2022, a solo operator with just 126 TH/s successfully mined a block, earning around $260,000. Instances of small-scale miners solving blocks remain notable in the current mining environment.
The event underscores the risks and potential rewards associated with solo mining as opposed to pool participation. While most miners choose shared pools for steadier income, the lottery-like nature of solo mining occasionally leads to significant windfalls for individual participants.
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