A Bitcoin detective with a magnifying glass inspecting lines of code for clues in solving digital currency mysteries

Key Takeaways:

A lone Bitcoin miner validated block 841,286, securing a reward of 3.125 BTC, approximately valued at $200,000, soon after Bitcoin’s reward halving.
This event marks a rare achievement in Bitcoin mining, being only the 282nd instance of a solo-mined block among over 841,300 blocks since the cryptocurrency’s inception.
The miner achieved this feat with a hash rate of 120 petahashes per second (0.12 EH/s), contributing to around 0.02% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate at the time.

A solo Bitcoin miner recently secured a substantial payout of approximately $200,000 by validating block 841,286, earning a reward of 3.125 Bitcoins.

This remarkable achievement was made possible by a miner operating independently, which is a rare event in the realm of Bitcoin mining, often likened to winning a lottery due to its rarity.

A solo bitcoin miner just made 3.125 #BTC for solving block 841,286

Have you ever thought of running a solo miner? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/D5w4I0Rc2G
— CryptoSavingExpert ® (@CryptoSavingExp) April 29, 2024

To date, this feat has been accomplished only 282 times across the more than 841,300 blocks minted since Bitcoin’s inception 14 years ago.

Con Kolivas, a software engineer and the administrator of the solo mining pool ckpool, shared on social media platform X that this was the 282nd instance of a solo-mined block in the history of Bitcoin.

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

At the time of the block’s validation, the miner was operating with a substantial hash rate of about 120 petahashes per second (PH/s), approximately 0.12 exahashes per second (EH/s).

On average, the miner maintained around 12 PH/s over the week, representing roughly 0.02% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate.

The value of the Bitcoin block reward had recently halved from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC following the latest Bitcoin halving event, which occurred at block 840,000 on April 20.

This solo mining victory thus came soon after the halving, underscoring the miner’s significant achievement under the newly adjusted reward conditions.

Kolivas further speculated that the miner might have shifted from pooled mining to solo attempts following the halving, possibly due to the reduced efficacy in covering electricity costs from pooled rewards, or perhaps they had been intermittently renting significant hashing power for solo mining attempts.

UPDATE: ANONYMOUS SOLO #BITCOIN MINER SOLVED A BLOCK TO TAKE HOME $219,000 BLOCK REWARD AS ONE OF THE FEW ONES TO DO SO
— BSCN Headlines (@BSCNheadlines) April 29, 2024

The endeavor of mining Bitcoin requires vast amounts of computational power to solve complex mathematical problems, which then allows the miner to add a new block to the Bitcoin blockchain.

While the profitability of mining has driven its popularity, it has also significantly increased the competition and overall difficulty of the process, making solo successes increasingly challenging.

This latest mining triumph is particularly notable given the current high competitiveness in the Bitcoin network, which has seen its hash rate peak at an all-time high of 728 EH/s recently, as reported by BitInfoCharts.

Just over a year ago, the average network hash rate was much lower, highlighting the rapid escalation in mining activity and the extraordinary nature of recent solo mining feats.