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Solo Miner Defies Odds, Nets $371K by Hitting Rare Bitcoin Block
- With Bitcoin trading above $100k USD, mining a block can be extremely profitable — but the record-high hash rate has made it nearly impossible for small miners.
- Against the odds, a solo miner recently cracked block 910,440 via the Solo CK pool, earning 3.25 BTC plus fees — a windfall of more than $350k USD.
- Experts estimate the likelihood of an individual miner achieving this is roughly 1 in 650,000, making it comparable to winning a lottery.
- While a handful of solo miners have struck gold this year, rising difficulty and corporate dominance mean competition is fiercer than ever, with even well-funded firms exploring AI and new tech to stay in the game.
I’m sure many of our readers have considered setting up a mining rig. With the price of Bitcoin over $100k USD ($154k AUD), successfully hitting a block reward could be very lucrative. As you’d expect, big corporations have identified this too, and with BTC’s hash rate the highest it’s ever been, it’s almost impossible for individuals with lesser mining rigs to hit the jackpot.
Of course… it’s almost impossible.
And overnight, one miner proved that there may still be some hope for solo operators to win big.
Related: Japan Set to Approve First Yen-Pegged Stablecoins in Q.4
Solo Miner Hits ‘1 in 650k’ Dice Roll
Block number 910,440, totalling 4,913 transactions, was successfully solved by an individual miner working through the Solo CK pool. This service, which takes a 2% or so fee, allows singular miners to participate in the BTC blockchain in the hopes of securing a block reward.
For this lucky miner, the block reward totalled the typical 3.25 BTC (worth over $350k USD), alongside about $2,000 AUD in transaction fees.
It was a huge win for something that’s considered the equivalent of ‘winning the lottery.’
According to Samuel Li, CTO of ASICKey, a dedicated mining firm, the chances of pulling off a solo block is around 1 in 650,000.
What do you reckon – would you take those odds?
Mining Difficulty Soars, Competition Heats Up
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Despite solo mining being more like gambling than a reliable income stream, this year has seen quite a few of the smaller guys get it done among the suffocating, colossal mining companies.
Both July and February saw individuals nail a full block reward, yielding them in excess of $500k AUD.
Despite the luck of these solo miners, BTC difficulty being at an all-time high actually means the odds of success are thinning. Even companies with millions of resources are starting to get pushed out by the bigger fish – with many turning to AI to keep up.
Author
Ben Knight
Ben Knight is a writer and editor from Melbourne with a passion for all things music and finance. He enjoys turning complex topics – especially the technical details of cryptocurrency – into digestible bites that anybody can understand. He acquired his Master’s in Writing, Editing and Publishing from RMIT in 2019 and has run his own creative writing business ever since.
