On Thursday, a solo bitcoin miner, operating with approximately 230 terahashes per second of computing power, successfully validated block 943,411, earning a reward of 3.139 BTC, valued at around $210,000. Notably, this miner controlled a negligible share of the total network hashrate, yet still managed to overcome the odds. The miner was connected to solo.ckpool.org, an anonymous solo mining pool that has been in operation since 2014 and charges a 2% fee.
The pool's developer, Con Kolivas, confirmed the win, highlighting that the miner had only a 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.
This achievement is significant, given that the miner's hashrate represents a mere 0.00002% of bitcoin's total estimated hashrate of roughly 1 zetahash per second. For comparison, listed miner Riot Platforms operates at over 30 exahashes, which is approximately 130,000 times the hashrate of Thursday's winner. The block marks the 312th solo win registered on CKpool since its inception and the first since February 28, ending a 33-day drought.
Solo pools have found just 20 bitcoin blocks over the past 12 months, distributing a combined 62.96 BTC, which translates to roughly one solo block every 18.7 days on average. This win continues a pattern that has repeated with surprising regularity, with similar instances occurring in December and November, where miners overcame significant odds to claim substantial rewards.