Solo bitcoin miner makes $200,000 using $150 equipment

A solo Bitcoin miner successfully mined a block using a low-cost, hobbyist-grade Bitaxe device, earning approximately $200,000 in rewards. This rare event highlights the lottery-like nature of solo mining, even as the broader industrial mining sector faces increased financial pressure.
Why it matters
The event underscores the extreme variance in Bitcoin mining and serves as a stark contrast to the capital-intensive industrial operations currently pivoting toward AI infrastructure to remain profitable.
The miner equipped with a small, hobbyist-grade device called a Bitaxe recently struck Bitcoin block number 957,382 and walked away with 3.1382 BTC, worth roughly $200,000.
The miner was running the rig for just eight hours through the Public Pool service. His average hash rate? A measly 995 GH/s, or about 1 terahash per second.
This marks the second time a single Bitaxe has solo-mined a block on Public Pool.
Data tracking handle Public Pool posted the win on X .
It’s an open-source, credit-card-sized ASIC miner powered by the same Bitmain BM1370 chip found in massive industrial Antminer S21 machines. The Bitaxe Gamma version pumps out 1 to 1.3 TH/s while using just 15-21 watts of power. You can buy one for $60 to $150.
Think of it as the mining equivalent of winning the lottery with a scratch-off ticket from a gas station.
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