A rare event occurred in the Bitcoin mining world when a solo miner successfully processed a block on their own, earning a reward of 3.169 Bitcoin—equivalent to around $180,000. The block, numbered 860749, was mined on September 10 and contained 5,935 transactions. The feat is uncommon due to the immense computational power typically required to solve a Bitcoin block.
Solo Mining Success Through the CK Pool
Although termed “solo,” the miner was part of the Solo CK mining pool. Unlike traditional pools that split rewards among all participants, Solo CK only distributes the reward to the specific miner who solves the block. The miner in this case used 629 petahashes of computational power, a mere 0.098% of the total network power, which stood at 644.91 exahashes per second (EH/s) at the time, according to YCharts.
This success is noteworthy considering Bitcoin’s overall hashrate recently reached a new all-time high of 742 EH/s on September 1, reflecting a 62% increase from a year ago. As the hashrate climbs, mining becomes more challenging and energy-intensive, making solo mining a rare but rewarding endeavor.
Solo Mining: A Rare but Lucrative Event
Solo miners solving blocks is an extraordinary occurrence due to the competition from large-scale mining operations. In fact, out of 859,000 blocks mined since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, solo miners have only solved 290. Major mining firms like Bit Digital, Riot Blockchain, and Marathon Digital dominate the space, given their substantial hash power resources.
Despite this, Solo CK pool has managed to solve 14 other blocks in the past year, accumulating 59.3 Bitcoin, currently valued at $3.4 million. A recent example includes a solo miner from Solo CK solving a block on August 30, earning nearly $200,000, and another hitting the jackpot with a $210,000 reward for solving block 853,742 on July 25.
