Bitcoin solo miners have made significant strides in securing block rewards despite the industry's competitive nature, as confirmed by Bitcoin CGMiner software engineer Dr. Con Kolivas. The most recent success was recorded on Saturday, October 28, 2023, when a miner using the Solo Ckpool platform secured the Bitcoin block reward of block 814,308 with just 11 petahash per second (PH/s) of hash power.
Solo Ckpool, a platform designed for miners with less advanced hardware or lower hash rates, allows miners to retain a substantial 99% of the reward upon discovering a block. This feature is a departure from traditional mining pools that distribute rewards among all members and offers more independence to individual miners.
The October achievement wasn't an isolated event. Earlier this year, there were several instances of solo mining successes. In August, a miner solved block 803,821 with just 1 PH/s of hashpower, securing a $160,000 reward. Further back in June, a miner operating an older Bitmain S9 device with only 17 terahash per second (TH/s) discovered block 793,607. In another instance, a miner with a substantial 1 exahash per second (EH/s) hashpower mined two blocks in quick succession without any large pool support.
These successes underscore the potential for individual miners to rival larger mining operations that typically dominate the industry. The allure of solo mining pools lies in their unpredictability and independence, despite high network difficulty. Mining a Bitcoin block isn't always about having immense computational power; it often resembles winning a lottery where luck plays a pivotal role in block discoveries.
This year has seen an upward trajectory in the Bitcoin Hashrate, peaking at 456 EH/s earlier this month before slightly dropping to 443 EH/s. Despite the network difficulty reaching 62.46T, the average block time remains approximately 8 minutes and 52 seconds. The rising mining difficulties and competitive Bitcoin mining market have not deterred these solo miners, who continue to secure substantial rewards.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.