Solo Bitcoin miners are solving blocks with just a handful of rigs
Two solo Bitcoin miners did the mathematically mega-improbable this week: they actually solved blocks all by themselves.
The first happened on Monday. A Bitcoin miner believed to wield between one and three rigs magically solved a block, reaping most of the 6.25 BTC ($271,000) reward for themselves.
Bitcoin Mining Council member Hass McCook told Cointelegraph the odds of that happening were “one in 1,400,000.”
Usually, Bitcoin miners build “farms” filled with hundreds or even thousands of ASIC rigs. More rigs mean more hashrate, which means more chances at solving blocks and collecting the Bitcoin reward.
Alternatively, prospective Bitcoin miners can contribute their hashrate to a mining pool. Pools effectively mine Bitcoin together as one unit and distribute any block rewards among participants.
Monday’s lucky miner was also part of a pool, but one specifically tailored for solo mining efforts, Solo CK.
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In Solo CK, Bitcoin miners who solve blocks receive 98% of the reward, with 2% going to the pool’s admin. Transaction fees also go to the miner.
The project says it’s suitable for large mining farms (who can compete against pools), and regular miners “who wish to take extra risk for greater reward potential for part or all of their hashrate.”
“Miners with old or inefficient miners, which will never earn any rewards through regular mining” may also benefit, as they can leave their rigs “mining as a lottery.”
Second Bitcoin miner solved block with even less hashrate
But just three days after the lucky miner with a handful of rigs, another Solo CK won that lottery.
On Thursday, Solo CK admin Con Kolivas tweeted to confirm that a Bitcoin miner with even less hashrate solved their own block. The miner had joined on Tuesday, presumably after they’d heard of Monday’s windfall.
As for the odds of two Solo CK members mining their own block, in the same week, with such low hashrate, McCook told reporters it was likely “one in a billion” — at least.
Indeed, Kolivas suggested pool newcomers shouldn’t automatically think they’ll mine their own Bitcoin so easily, saying: “the odds are heavily stacked against you!”
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