Solo Bitcoin Miner Wins 3.125 BTC Lottery Block Reward Worth $219,000
Late on Sunday, a solo bitcoin miner defeated the odds to solve a block and win the entire reward of the transaction fee and subsidy.
Congratulations to miner 365ughTgK9Q7rXXTM7vubqy1awZ2AZJijP for solving the 282nd solo block solved at https://t.co/UWgBvLkDqc with a large ~120PH at the time (12PH average over a week) https://t.co/btUXBoC8Yd pic.twitter.com/yh0VkuAI5b
— Dr -ck (@ckpooldev) April 28, 2024
According to the Bitcoin Explorer Mempool, the miner used solo bitcoin-mining software from CKpool to earn 3.433 BTC (218,544) for mining block 841,286. This included 0.308 BTC in transaction fees ($19,607) and 3.125 BTC in block subsidy rewards ($198,937).
In the recent Bitcoin halving at block 840,000 on April 20, the block reward was lowered from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, which meant that block 841,286 was worth about $200,000 at the time.
"A large ~120PH at the time (12PH average over a week) went to miner 365ughTgK9Q7rXXTM7vubqy1awZ2AZJijP for solving the 282nd solo block at solo.ckpool.org," the statement reads. Con Kolivas, the developer of CKpool, posted on X.
Given that the Bitcoin network as a whole has a hash rate of about 638 EH/s, a lone miner's chances of solving the block were approximately 0.02%, or more than 1 in 5,000. (Bitcoin's hash rate calculates the total amount of processing power miners have contributed to the network.)
Based on the block solve summary, Kolivas added that this large miner has either been hashing or renting large amounts solo on occasion or recently switched from pooled mining post-halving (presumably because they were no longer recouping their electricity costs) in order to try their luck at a solo block.
The accomplishment is noteworthy because mining a valid block by yourself is as uncommon as winning the lottery. It is so extremely rare that, since the creation of Bitcoin 14 years ago, it has only happened 282 times out of the 841,300 blocks generated.
According to X users, this is not an ordinary miner. @FrostyEarth tweeted that it will take about a $250,000 electric bill a month and a $2,000,000 start-up cost minimum to achieve this. The developer of CKpool replied to the user: “That's why it's called gambling, anon.”
In 2022, a lone Bitcoin miner, by mining a block with a hash rate of only 126 TH/s, beat the odds of 1 in 1.3 million and earned rewards of about $260,000. Fast forward to March 2023, and a lone miner who solved a block received the full 6.25 BTC reward. But back then, prices were significantly lower, so the reward amounted to about $150,000.
Most recently, the last miner to earn $422,875 before the halving took place was a lone miner with 7 PH/s on April 5. This shows it still remains a relatively rare event because the odds of it happening are around 1 in 5,000.
Disclaimer: This information should not be considered financial advice by any means. Please do your own research before making any investment decisions. The views in the articles are personal opinions only. Whale Insider is not responsible for any financial losses incurred.