A Bitcoin miner has successfully mined Block 883,181, securing a reward of approximately $310,000.
The miner, who operated independently without the backing of a major mining company, solved the cryptographic puzzle required to validate transactions and add a new block to the Bitcoin blockchain.
The Mining Method
Crypto journalist Pete Rizzo first reported the rare event on X, revealing that the miner processed a block containing 3,071 transactions.
The miner received a reward of 3.125 BTC for solving the block and an additional 0.033 BTC in transaction fees, resulting in a total earnings of 3.158 BTC. With the cryptocurrency priced at around $98,300 at the time, this amounted to a payout of approximately $310,000.
While the exact setup used by the individual remains unclear, speculation has emerged on X regarding their possible equipment. Some users suggested that the miner could have used a $200 BitAXE home mining device. Others believe they may have leveraged CKPOOL, a mining pool for solo miners that allows individuals to participate without relying on a major firm.
According to data from BitInfoCharts, as of February 11, 2025, the Bitcoin network’s average hash rate is approximately 800.52 exahashes per second (EH/s). At this level, the chances of an individual miner successfully adding a block to the blockchain are extremely low.
Most Bitcoin blocks are generated by large-scale industrial operations, which look like warehouses filled with powerful, high-cost mining machines run by publicly traded companies. However, on rare occasions, a lone miner manages to beat the odds and mine a block independently.
Previous Solo Mining Successes
Solo mining involves an individual attempting to solve complex cryptographic puzzles without assistance from a mining pool.
As Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increases, the process requires more resources, making it more challenging for such operators to succeed. The rising price of Bitcoin has also led to increased competition, contributing to a higher overall hash rate and reducing the likelihood of such occurrences.
However, there have been other instances of individual miners successfully mining a Bitcoin block. On April 29, 2024, a miner independently mined Block 841,286, earning them an entire 3.125 BTC reward, valued at around $200,000 at the time.
In July of the same year, a BitAXE device with a hashrate of only 500 gigahashes per second (Gh/s) successfully mined Block 853,742, securing a reward of $206,000 in Bitcoin. This case was particularly notable given the probability of such an event occurring was estimated at 1 in 1.1 billion approximately every ten minutes.
