- A solo Bitcoin miner successfully solved a block, earning a 3.125 BTC reward, valued at approximately $200,000.
- This rare event marks the 282nd time a solo miner has solved a block in Bitcoin’s 14-year history.
- The miner had a significantly high hash rate at the time of the solve, around 0.12 EH/s.
An individual Bitcoin miner managed to solve a block on their own, securing a full block reward of 3.125 Bitcoins, which amounted to around $200,000 at the time. This event, confirmed by Con Kolivas, a software engineer and administrator of the solo mining pool ckpool, underscores the significant challenges and potential rewards of individual cryptocurrency mining.
Details of the Solo Mining Achievement
The successful miner was operating with an impressive hash rate of about 120 petahashes per second (PH/s) at the time of the block solve, according to Kolivas’ update on X. Over the average week, however, their hash rate was closer to 12 PH/s. Despite these fluctuations, the miner’s peak performance was equivalent to 0.12 exahashes per second (EH/s), or roughly 0.02% of the total network hash rate, demonstrating a substantial investment in mining capability.
This achievement came shortly after the Bitcoin network’s recent halving event, which reduced the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Kolivas speculated that the miner might have switched from pooled mining to solo efforts due to diminishing returns on electricity costs under the new reward system, or perhaps they were renting significant hash power intermittently.
Solo Mining: A Rarity in Modern Times
The success of this solo miner is a rarity in the Bitcoin network, likened to winning the lottery. Out of over 841,300 blocks mined since the inception of Bitcoin, only 282 have been successfully solved by solo miners. This feat is becoming increasingly rare due to the escalating difficulty of the network, which requires immense computational power.
The significant increase in network difficulty is partly due to the rising popularity and price of Bitcoin, which has attracted more participants and consequently increased the network’s total hash rate. As of the latest figures, the average network hash rate stands at 618 EH/s, with a record high of 728 EH/s reached recently.
Despite the competitive landscape, this solo miner’s accomplishment highlights the ongoing potential for individual success within the complex and highly competitive world of Bitcoin mining. This event not only celebrates the technological feat of solving a block solo but also serves as a reminder of the decentralized and unpredictable nature of blockchain technology.
