Lone Bitcoin Miner Wins Jackpot with Rare Block Reward

A solo Bitcoin miner has defied the odds by solving a Bitcoin block alone, earning the full 3.125 Bitcoin block reward. The miner had a hash rate of around 120PH, equivalent to around 0.12 EH, which is roughly 0.02% of the total network hash rate. This feat is remarkable because mining a valid block solo is an extremely rare event, akin to winning the lottery.

Solo Bitcoin Miner Defies Odds, Claims Rare Block Reward

In a remarkable feat, a lone Bitcoin miner has achieved the extraordinary accomplishment of solving a Bitcoin block independently, earning the full 3.125 Bitcoin (BTC) block reward.

On April 29, Con Kolivas, a software engineer and administrator from the solo mining pool ckpool, announced via Twitter that a miner had successfully solved the 282nd solo block in Bitcoin's history.

Kolivas revealed that the solo miner possessed a remarkable hash rate of approximately 120PH (peta hashes) at the time of the block solve, equivalent to roughly 0.12 EH (exa hashes). Over the preceding week, the miner maintained an average hash rate of around 12PH, which translates to approximately 0.02% of the total network hash rate.

The block reward for solving block 841,286 was reduced to 3.125 BTC from the previous 6.25 BTC following the Bitcoin halving at block 840,000 on April 20. At the time, this reward was valued at approximately $200,000 based on the prevailing BTC price.

Kolivas analyzed the block-solve summary and posited that this formidable miner may have recently transitioned from pooled mining post-halving, potentially due to the decreased profitability of pooled mining. Alternatively, the miner may have been intermittently hashing or renting large amounts of hash power solo.

The accomplishment is particularly noteworthy because mining a valid block solo is an exceedingly rare event, comparable to winning a lottery jackpot. Since Bitcoin's inception 14 years ago, only 282 solo blocks have been mined out of a total of approximately 841,300 blocks produced.

Bitcoin mining involves utilizing computational power to solve complex mathematical problems and add the next block to the network. However, the asset's surging price has fueled an explosion in mining popularity, leading to increased competitiveness, known as difficulty, and hash rate. As a result, solo block solving has become virtually impossible.

In March 2023, Cointelegraph reported that a solo miner secured the entire 6.25 BTC reward for solving a block; however, the reward's value was then approximately $150,000 due to lower BTC prices.

The last solo block was mined on April 5, just weeks before the halving, when a solo miner solved block 837,814 with 7PH of hash rate, netting a reward worth around $422,750 at the time.

According to Bitinfocharts, the average network hash rate currently stands at 618 EH/s (exa hashes per second), having reached an all-time high of 728 EH/s on April 23. Over the past year, the network hash rate has surged by more than 90%, rendering the latest solo mining achievement even more exceptional.

The achievement of this solo miner serves as a testament to the inherent luck and perseverance required in Bitcoin mining, where the vast majority of miners operate within mining pools to increase their chances of earning a reward.