Solo Bitcoin miner bags $330K block reward despite record difficulty

A solo Bitcoin miner has successfully mined artifact 899,826, earning a reward worthy $330,386, a uncommon feat amid record-high web difficulty.

According to mempool.space data, the artifact was confirmed astatine 3:48 americium UTC connected June 5 and included 3,680 transactions. The miner, operating nether the Solo CK pool, collected a subsidy of 3.125 Bitcoin (BTC) positive an further 0.026 BTC successful fees.

The mean interest per transaction successful artifact 899,826 was astir $0.29, with a median interest complaint of astir 2 satoshis per virtual byte (sat/vB), suggesting comparatively airy web congestion astatine the time.

In a June 5 station connected X, Con Kolivas, a bundle technologist and head of the solo mining excavation ckpool, said that the miner who won the solo Bitcoin artifact precocious ramped up their hashrate to 259 petahashes per 2nd (PH/s), which is unusually ample for a solo miner.

Based connected the information that lone 1 idiosyncratic (mining instrumentality identity) was connected, helium believes this was astir surely a rented hashrate — apt from a unreality oregon marketplace work — temporarily pointed astatine the excavation to effort to triumph a block.

He besides noted that this miner’s relationship had been mining connected CKPool before, but usually with a overmuch little hashrate. Therefore, the large hashrate was a short-term rental apt utilized to “take a shot” astatine scoring a artifact reward.

Con Kolivas speculates that the solo miner utilized rental powerfulness to summation the hashrate. Source: Con Kolivas

Related: MARA increases Bitcoin accumulation by 35% amid caller hashrate highs

Bitcoin mining trouble hits grounds high

On June 1, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty deed a caller all-time precocious of 126.98 trillion, according to information from Blockchain.com. The surge successful trouble reflects rising contention among miners and expanding web security.

The mining trouble is adjusted each 2,016 blocks and is driven by the web hashrate, which measures the full computational powerfulness dedicated to securing the network. 

Rising mining difficulty. Source: Blockchain.com

With existent trouble levels, the chances of an idiosyncratic miner successfully solving a artifact are vanishingly small. As Bitcoin’s trouble continues to climb, specified solo wins are apt to go adjacent rarer, adding further intrigue whenever they occur.

Related: Bitcoin miners sued implicit cryptography patents successful US tribunal case

Solo mining wins connected the rise?

The caller artifact triumph by a solo miner comes amid a emergence successful akin uncommon solo mining successes this year.

On March 10, a solo Bitcoin miner utilizing a small, low-cost mining rig earned 3.15 BTC (worth $263,000 astatine the time) for solving artifact 887,212 via the solo.ckpool pool, becoming the 297th solo miner to execute this uncommon feat.

Likewise, connected Feb. 10, a solo Bitcoin miner successfully mined artifact 883,181, earning a reward of 3.15 BTC (including fees), worthy implicit $300,000 astatine the time. The artifact included 3,071 transactions, according to information from Mempool.space.

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