A solo Bitcoin miner has pocketed $347,455 worth of self-mined block reward using a $300 BTC mining rig. Unfortunately, no additional information is available about the block, as it was a self-mined instance of a public pool on an Umbrel node.
Bitcoin node infrastructure firm Umbrel stated that the solo miner secured the block through a Public Pool BTC mining pool, earning a 3.125 BTC block reward and an additional 0.016 BTC transaction fee. Mempool.space data showed that the self-mining instance occurred at block height 920,440 on Thursday at 7:32 pm UTC, taking only 2,181 transactions to secure the block reward.
However, it is not uncommon for solo BTC miners to win blocks. The case is particularly impressive because the solo miner reportedly managed to run a solo mining pool to secure the block independently, rather than using the common practice of pooling hash power.
Umbrel says there were no middlemen or third parties
The solo Bitcoin miner showed what “pure self-sovereignty in action” means after beating all odds to mine an entire block alone. Umbrel said no middlemen or third parties were involved throughout the process.
News of the solo mining feat comes amid a surge in smaller-sized BTC miners such as Bitaxes, which sell for between $155 and over $600, depending on the rig’s terahash-per-second capacity.
The increase in solo BTC miners solving blocks is beneficial for Bitcoin’s decentralization, as small miners have a better chance to compete against industrial-scale miners. However, a BitMaker spokesperson previously stated that a combination of pocket-sized machines contributes only a small boost to Bitcoin’s hashrate. He added that most of these machines are open-sourced to counter the secrecy and exclusivity of large miners using the closed-sourced Bitcoin ASICs.
As the Bitcoin network expands, solo mining continues to be a symbol of individual sovereignty. Lucky miners can compete with established giants and reap life-altering rewards. Meanwhile, the latest self-mining event can be regarded as a positive development for Bitcoin’s decentralization, potentially encouraging more participation from small miners.
Solo mining wins are on the rise
The recent solo block mining win comes amid a surge in similar self-mining instances this year. On February 10, one solo miner successfully earned 3.15 BTC (including fees) worth over $300,000 (at the time) for solving block 883,181. Mempool.space data showed that the block included nearly 3,071 transactions.
On March 10, another solo BTC miner using a small, low-cost mining rig earned another 3.15 BTC, worth roughly $263,000 (at the time), for solving block 887,212 through the solo.ckpool pool, becoming the 297th solo miner to achieve the feat.
Likewise, another solo miner earned a $330,086 reward on June 5 for mining block 899,826. Mempool.space data confirmed the block included 3,680 transactions. The miner operated under the solo CK pool and collected about 3.125 BTC plus 0.026 BTC in fees.
Onchain data also showed that the average fee per transaction in block 899,826 was roughly $0.29, with a median fee rate of two Satoshi per virtual byte (sat/vB). Software engineer Con Kolivas pointed out that the miner had increased its hashrate to an unusually high 259 petahashes per second.
Kolivas also disclosed that the account had been mining on CKPool using a much lower hashrate, so the higher hashrate was probably used for a short-term score. He added that the solo miner was likely a rented hashrate from a marketplace or cloud service.
Data from Blockchain.com shows that Bitcoin mining difficulty hit a new ATH of 126.98 trillion on June 1, a surge that reflected rising competition among miners. The difficulty is adjusted after every 2,016 blocks and is usually driven by the network’s hashrate.
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