A solo Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) miner with a modest 2.3 petahashes per second (PH/s) of computing power successfully mined a full Bitcoin block on Thursday, earning a reward valued at $349,028.
Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo described the event as beating “incredible odds,” given the relatively low hash rate compared to industrial mining operations.
The block, numbered 903883, was mined on the CKpool mining pool, whose administrator congratulated the miner for solving the block with only 2.3 PH/s.
They noted that a miner with this level of power has roughly a 1 in 2,800 chance of mining a block daily, or about once every eight years on average, equating to a 0.004% probability.
The miner received a subsidy of 3.173 BTC as the block reward, which at current prices equals approximately $349,028, according to Mempool Space data.
While the exact hardware used is not confirmed, it is likely the miner employed older-generation ASIC miners capable of producing 2.3 PH/s.
In comparison, smaller hobbyist rigs such as the Bitaxe Gamma or FutureBit Apollo BTC generate only a few terahashes per second, making solo mining jackpots extremely rare for them.
USB miners like the NerdMiner Pro v2 produce kilohashes per second and have negligible chances of mining an entire block.
To have a reasonable probability of mining one block per month, a solo miner would need roughly 166,000 TH/s, equivalent to nearly 500 Antminer S21 Hydro units, which requires a multimillion-dollar investment.
This is not the first time a solo miner has hit a jackpot; in February, a miner earned over $300,000 from block 883,181, and another in June mined block 899,826 for a reward worth $330,000.
Despite the rarity, solo mining success depends largely on chance rather than hash power alone.
Meanwhile, some industrial mining companies like Riot Platforms and Cipher Mining reduced output in June to avoid high electricity tariffs during peak demand in Texas.
At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin (BTC) price was $108,848.