A solo Bitcoin miner earned a 3.1382 BTC block reward worth approximately $200,000 by solving block #957,382 using a Bitaxe Gamma device that costs as little as $150. The miner ran the palm-sized open-source device for about eight hours through Public Pool, a solo mining pool allowing participants to keep the full block reward. The victory marks only the second time a single Bitaxe device has mined a block through Public Pool, demonstrating that hobbyist miners can occasionally achieve extraordinary success despite operating at a fraction of industrial-scale hashrates.
Solo Miner Solves Block #957,382 with 995 GH/s Hashrate
The winning miner operated the Bitaxe Gamma at an average hashrate of approximately 995 GH/s, or about 1 terahash per second (TH/s). That hashrate is tiny compared with the Bitcoin network's hundreds of exahashes per second of total computing power, making the success statistically extraordinary. Reports stated that a miner operating at roughly 1 TH/s would normally expect to wait many thousands of years, on average, before solving a block.
Public Pool celebrated the achievement on X, posting: "Block #2 on hosted Public-Pool. By a lone Bitaxe." The successful block yielded 3.1382 BTC, consisting of the standard 3.125 BTC block subsidy plus transaction fees collected from transactions included in the block.
The Bitaxe Gamma is an open-source ASIC miner built around Bitmain's BM1370 chip—the same generation of chip used in larger commercial mining hardware. The compact device typically produces between 1 and 1.3 TH/s while consuming only 15 to 21 watts of electricity. Retail prices generally range from $60 to $150, depending on configuration.
Solo Mining Activity Records 41% Increase Over Past Year
According to community tracking data, solo miners have found 12 Bitcoin blocks during 2026. Over the past 12 months, 24 solo blocks have been mined, representing a 41% increase from the previous year. Together, those miners have earned approximately 75.44 BTC in block rewards.
Unlike traditional mining pools that distribute rewards among thousands of participants, solo pools such as Public Pool and Solo CKPool allow miners to retain the entire block reward if they successfully mine a block. However, most hobbyist miners will never find a block during the lifetime of their equipment because the blockchain treats every valid hash equally, regardless of whether it comes from a global mining company or a solo miner.
FAQ
What block did the solo Bitcoin miner solve using a Bitaxe Gamma device?
The solo miner solved Bitcoin block #957,382 using a Bitaxe Gamma device that costs as little as $150, earning a 3.1382 BTC block reward worth approximately $200,000.
How many solo Bitcoin blocks were mined in 2026?
According to community tracking data, solo miners have found 12 Bitcoin blocks during 2026, and 24 solo blocks have been mined over the past 12 months, representing a 41% increase from the previous year.
