On Thursday, a solo bitcoin miner, operating at approximately 230 terahashes per second, successfully validated block 943,411, earning a block reward of 3.139 BTC, valued at around $210,000. This achievement is notable given the miner's relatively small contribution to the total network hashrate, which is nearly negligible.
The miner was connected to the solo.ckpool.org pool, a platform that allows solo miners to retain their full block rewards, minus a 2% fee. Con Kolivas, the developer of CKpool, confirmed the win, stating that the miner had a roughly 1-in-28,000 chance of finding a block on any given day.
The winning miner, bc1qtt7cr9cxykyp9g4hq47zf5lq9t97cxvq72lun3, with a hashrate of approximately 230 TH, solved the 312th solo block. For perspective, this miner's hashrate represents about 0.00002% of the total estimated bitcoin hashrate of roughly 1 zetahash per second. This level of output is consistent with a small-scale, home-based setup rather than a large industrial operation. The block is the first solo win on CKpool since February 28, ending a 33-day drought.
Over the past 12 months, solo pools have found just 20 bitcoin blocks, distributing a combined 62.96 BTC, with an average of one solo block every 18.7 days. This win continues a pattern of solo miners overcoming significant odds to claim substantial rewards, including a 270 TH/s miner that cleared 1-in-30,000 daily odds in December and a 6 TH/s miner that beat 1-in-180-million odds in November.