Solo Bitcoin Miner Beats Long Odds to Claim Nearly $350,000 Block Reward
A lone Bitcoin miner has defied staggering odds by successfully mining a full block and earning almost $350,000 in Bitcoin rewards.
Operating through the CKpool solo mining pool, the miner cracked block 903,883 using a rig generating 2.3 petahashes per second (PH/s), according to data from Mempool Space.
This rare achievement highlights how, despite fierce competition, smaller players can still hit major payouts in the mining world.
How Rare Is This Win With 2.3 PH/s Hashrate
The administrator of CKpool explained the improbability involved:
“A miner of this size has about a 1 in 2,800 chance of solving a block every day, or once every 8 years on average.”
Translated into percentage terms, that’s a 0.004% chance daily at the current network difficulty.
Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo called the feat “remarkable,” noting the “incredible odds” the miner overcame.
The block reward consisted of 3.173 BTC, valued at roughly $349,028 at the time.
Experts suspect the miner’s hardware likely consisted of several older ASIC machines working together to reach the modest 2.3 PH/s hashrate.
This contrasts sharply with smaller hobbyist rigs such as the Bitaxe or USB-based NerdMiner devices, which produce only terahashes or kilohashes per second—levels too low to realistically expect a full block payout.
What Hashrate Does Solo Mining Require for Regular Wins
For a solo miner to expect a block every month, they would need approximately 166,000 terahashes per second, which translates to roughly 500 Antminer S21 Hydro units—a setup costing millions in equipment alone.
This stark difference underlines why most miners join large pools or operate industrial-scale farms.
Still, this latest success shows that solo mining can occasionally favour even modest setups.
Recent Solo Mining Wins Show This Is Not a One-Off
This is not the first time this year a solo miner has struck big.
In February, another miner solved block 883,181 and earned over $300,000 in Bitcoin.
Early June saw a similar victory when a solo miner mined block 899,826, collecting a reward valued at about $330,000 despite record-high network difficulty.
These wins highlight that solo mining, though statistically challenging, can still deliver major payoffs.
Industrial Miners Cut Back as Solo Wins Make Headlines
While solo miners celebrate these rare jackpots, some of the largest industrial mining firms have reported lower output recently.
Riot Platforms, Cipher Mining, and MARA Holdings reduced operations in June to avoid costly peak electricity charges in Texas during the hot summer months.
This slowdown among big players contrasts with the occasional solo miner’s luck, painting a complex picture of the current mining landscape.
Chinese Influence Remains Despite Mining Bans
Over half of the world’s Bitcoin mining still traces back to Chinese capital, expertise, or hardware, according to Uminers CEO Batyr Hydyrov.
Despite China’s 2021 mining ban, major manufacturers like Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT have shifted production to the U.S. to dodge tariffs, pushing America’s share of the Bitcoin hashrate from 4% in 2019 to 38% today.
Many former Chinese miners have also expanded their capacity after relocating overseas, sometimes by as much as 150%.
Limited mining continues in some remote Chinese regions where enforcement is less strict.
These details offer insight into the broader forces shaping Bitcoin mining today, where individual miners can still defy the odds amid a field dominated by industrial-scale players and shifting global influences.