An independent Bitcoin miner has defied the odds, successfully extracting an entire Bitcoin block, securing a payout valued at nearly $350,000 in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin researcher Pete Rizzo observed that the individual miner overcame significant obstacles on Thursday to accomplish this feat. The CKpool administrator, overseeing the Bitcoin mining pool where the block was discovered, extended congratulations to the fortunate miner, noting their utilization of a modest 2.3 petahashes to complete the task.
The CKpool administrator stated that “A miner operating at this scale possesses roughly a 0.004% probability of solving a block daily, or statistically, once every eight years.”
Mempool Space data reveals that the miner successfully unlocked block 903883, receiving a reward of 3.173 BTC, equivalent to $349,028.
Individual Mining Rigs Offer Lower Hashrates
While the miner’s precise hardware configuration remains undisclosed, it is plausible they were utilizing multiple older-generation ASIC miners, capable of generating a combined hashpower of 2.3 petahashes per second.
Smaller-scale, hobbyist-level solo mining setups, like the Bitaxe Gamma, FutureBit Apollo BTC, or Canaan Avalon Nano 3, typically produce only a few terahashes per second.
Even more diminutive, USB-based miners, such as the NerdMiner Pro v2, output only kilohashes per second, rendering successful block mining exceptionally improbable.
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To maintain a practical prospect of extracting one Bitcoin block per month, an individual miner would necessitate approximately 166,000 TH/s of computational strength. As Cointelegraph detailed earlier in the year, this equates to almost 500 Antminer S21 Hydro devices, requiring a multimillion-dollar upfront expenditure.
Past Individual Mining Successes
Back in February, a lone miner achieved a significant breakthrough with block 883,181, similarly claiming the 3.125 Bitcoin block reward, valued at over $300,000 at that time. Speculation surrounded the potential use of a Bitaxe by the victorious miner.
Previously, another individual miner experienced a similar triumph in early June, successfully mining block 899,826 and securing a reward worth $330,000. This achievement was considered even more remarkable given the record-high network difficulty.
In individual mining, hashrate alone does not guarantee success, as outcome remains purely probabilistic. At current difficulty benchmarks, a solo miner with 2.3 PH/s has approximately a one in 375,300 chance per block, according to SoloChance.
Decrease in Mining Production
Concurrently, Bitcoin mining output among industrial-scale operations has shown declines in June for several prominent entities, including Riot Platforms, Cipher Mining, and MARA Holdings.
A number of companies implemented strategic operational curtailments in June to mitigate the effects of high peak demand electricity prices in Texas, where premium tariffs are applied during the summer season.
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