On Thursday, a solo bitcoin miner, operating with approximately 230 terahashes per second of computational power, successfully validated block 943,411 and received 3.139 BTC, valued at around $210,000. Notably, this miner controlled a negligible fraction of the total network hashrate, which is so small it is often rounded to zero on most dashboards.
The miner was connected to solo.ckpool.org, a solo mining pool that allows operators to retain their full block rewards, minus a 2% fee. The win was confirmed by CKpool developer Con Kolivas, who noted that the miner had roughly a 1-in-28,000 chance of finding a block on any given day. The winning miner, bc1qtt7cr9cxykyp9g4hq47zf5lq9t97cxvq72lun3, with approximately 230TH, solved the 312th solo block.
This achievement is significant, given that the miner's hashrate represents about 0.00002% of bitcoin's total estimated hashrate of roughly 1 zetahash per second as of early April. For context, listed miner Riot Platforms operates at over 30 exahashes, roughly 130,000 times the hashrate of Thursday's winner.
The block is the 312th solo win registered on CKpool since its inception and the first 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, which translates to roughly one solo block every 18.7 days on average, with the longest gap being 58 days.
This win continues a pattern that has repeated with surprising regularity throughout this cycle, with similar instances occurring in December and November, where miners overcame significant odds to claim substantial rewards.