Solo Miner with Low Hashrate Device Earns $206K in Bitcoin Block

As a seasoned researcher with extensive experience in the field of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, I find the recent news of a small Bitcoin mining device, the Bitaxe by D-Central Technologies, mining a $206,000 worth BTC block absolutely fascinating. My intrigue is further fueled by the fact that this device has an unusually low hashrate of only 500 Gh/s – about one-billionth of the total network power.


A Bitcoin mining machine producing only 500 gigahashes per second (Gh/s) unexpectedly mined a block rewarding $206,000 in Bitcoin, as reported by Altair Technology, a reputable seller of Bitcoin mining equipment.

D-Central Technologies’ compact gadget, named “Bitaxe,” is roughly the dimension of a human hand. This innovative device was lately unveiled on the YouTube platform “How Much.”

According to reports, it was linked to Solo CKPool – a platform enabling independent miners to engage in solo mining without having to connect their systems directly to a Bitcoin core node.

As a successful crypto investor, I’m thrilled to acknowledge the achievement of the miner who is believed to have mined the first solo Bitcoin block using Bitaxe on ckpool.dev with approximately 500 Gh hashrate. Bravo to skot9000, Public_Pool_BTC, and osmu_global for their contributions to this project!— Altair Technology® ⛏️ (@altair_tech) July 24, 2024

As a crypto investor, I can tell you that according to the data recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain, block number 853742 was mined at 11:43 am UTC on a Wednesday. This information is corroborated by Altair Technology, which has verified that this particular block was indeed mined using the Bitaxe mining device.

Solo Miner with Low Hashrate Device Earns $206K in Bitcoin Block

From a different angle, the Bitcoin network’s hash rate stands at approximately 552.49 exahashes per second (Eh/s), translating to an astounding 552,490,000,000 gigahashes per second (Gh/s). In comparison, Bitaxe functions with only a minuscule fraction of this power. The probability of this device mining a block is around 1 in 1.1 billion within a ten-minute timeframe.

Bitcoin Block

In the Bitcoin network, a block represents a grouping of recent transactions that have been validated and are ready for addition to the permanent record called the blockchain. Miners strive to find solutions to intricate mathematical puzzles in order to be the first to append a new block to this chain. Once they succeed, they are rewarded with newly generated Bitcoins and any transaction fees associated with the transactions included within that particular block.

Bitcoin miners constantly use electricity, irrespective of whether they successfully extract a block or not. This persistent expense makes solo mining a potentially costly endeavor for most individuals. Consequently, numerous miners opt to collaborate in mining pools, where resources are shared and rewards are distributed proportionally based on the hash power contributed by each miner.

Some proponents of Bitcoin hold the view that pool mining could potentially result in network centralization and advocate for the practice of solo mining instead. A recent occurrence serves as a reminder that, albeit rare, even smaller-scale miners have the capability to mine a block on their own.

In April, an individual miner with a mining device boasting 120 petahashes per second (Ph/s) of processing power, approximately 240 times stronger than Bitaxe’s capabilities, successfully mined a new block all by themselves.

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2024-07-25 03:48