Solo mining is the process of mining Bitcoin independently, without joining a mining pool. Every hash your miner submits is an independent lottery ticket for the full block reward — currently 3.125 BTC. If your hash solves a block, you keep the entire reward. No sharing, no pool fees, all or nothing.
In a world where industrial mining farms dominate the Bitcoin hashrate, solo mining stands as an act of sovereignty. It is the purest form of Bitcoin mining — one miner, one node, one shot at the full block reward. While pool mining offers predictable payouts, solo mining offers something pool mining never can: the chance to earn over $250,000 from a single device sitting on your desk.
This is not a theoretical possibility. In 2024 and 2025, solo miners running open-source hardware like the Bitaxe and NerdQAxe++ found multiple Bitcoin blocks, earning their operators hundreds of thousands of dollars each. A single Bitaxe with roughly 500 GH/s of hashrate — a device that fits in your palm and draws 15 watts — solved a block worth over $200,000.
This guide explains everything you need to know about solo mining: how it works, the math behind your odds, real success stories, the best hardware and pools to use, and an honest assessment of whether solo mining is right for you.
How Solo Mining Works
To understand solo mining, you need to understand what mining actually does. Bitcoin miners compete to find a specific number — called a nonce — that, when combined with the block’s transaction data and run through the SHA-256 hash function, produces a hash below the network’s current difficulty target. The miner who finds this valid hash first gets to add the next block to the blockchain and claim the block reward.
In pool mining, thousands of miners combine their hashrate and split the rewards proportionally. If the pool finds a block and you contributed 0.001% of the pool’s hashrate, you receive 0.001% of the reward. It is predictable and consistent, but you never get the full prize.
Solo mining eliminates the middleman. Here is how it works in practice:
- Your miner generates hashes. Each hash is a unique attempt to solve the current block. An ASIC miner generates trillions of these per second.
- Each hash is an independent lottery ticket. Every single hash has the same infinitesimally small chance of being the winning one. There is no “getting closer” — each attempt is binary. It either solves the block or it does not.
- You submit hashes through a solo mining pool. Since you cannot submit shares directly to the Bitcoin network without running specialized software, most solo miners point their hardware at a solo mining service like Solo CKPool, public-pool.io, or OCEAN’s solo mode. These services relay your work to the network without combining it with other miners.
- If YOUR hash solves the block, you get the FULL reward. The entire 3.125 BTC block subsidy plus all transaction fees in that block go directly to your Bitcoin address. At current prices, that is roughly $240,000 to $300,000 per block.
- If your hash does not solve the block, you get nothing. There are no participation trophies in solo mining. You either find a block or you do not.
This all-or-nothing dynamic is what makes solo mining fundamentally different from pool mining. It is high variance, high reward — the Bitcoin miner’s lottery.
Solo Mining vs Pool Mining
The choice between solo mining and pool mining comes down to one question: do you want predictable, small payouts, or do you want a shot at the full jackpot? Here is a detailed comparison:
| Factor | Solo Mining | Pool Mining |
|---|---|---|
| Block Reward | Full 3.125 BTC + all transaction fees | Proportional share based on contributed hashrate |
| Payout Frequency | Extremely rare (could be never) | Regular (daily, hourly, or per-share) |
| Pool Fees | 0% (public-pool.io) to 2% (Solo CKPool) | 1-3% of earnings |
| Income Variance | Maximum — feast or famine | Low — steady, predictable income |
| Minimum Hardware | Any hashrate (even 1 GH/s) | Any hashrate |
| Decentralization Impact | Maximum — you are an independent node | Reduces decentralization by concentrating hashrate |
| Privacy | High — no pool operator tracking your activity | Low — pool knows your hashrate, address, and uptime |
| Technical Complexity | Low (solo pools make it easy) | Low |
| Best For | Sovereignty maximalists, lottery miners, educators | Profit-optimizing miners, businesses |
Neither approach is objectively “better.” Pool mining is the rational economic choice for miners who depend on mining income. Solo mining is the sovereignty choice — and occasionally, the most profitable one imaginable. When a Bitaxe worth $200 finds a block worth $250,000, the return on investment is beyond anything pool mining could ever deliver.
The Mathematics of Solo Mining
Solo mining probability is straightforward but humbling. Your chance of finding a block in any given period is simply your hashrate divided by the total network hashrate.
The Probability Formula
The probability of finding at least one block over a period of time follows this formula:
P(at least one block) = 1 – (1 – h/H)^n
Where:
- h = your hashrate
- H = total network hashrate (~800-1,100 EH/s as of early 2026)
- n = number of blocks in your time period (approximately 144 blocks per day, 52,560 per year)
For practical purposes, when your hashrate is tiny compared to the network (which it always is for home miners), this simplifies to:
Expected time to find one block = (Network hashrate / Your hashrate) x 10 minutes
Solo Mining Odds by Hashrate
The following table shows your expected time to find a block and your probability of finding at least one block per year, assuming a network hashrate of approximately 900 EH/s (900,000,000 TH/s):
| Your Hashrate | Example Hardware | Expected Time Per Block | Probability Per Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 GH/s (0.5 TH/s) | Bitaxe Supra | ~342,466 years | 0.000003% |
| 1.2 TH/s | Bitaxe Gamma | ~142,694 years | 0.000007% |
| 5 TH/s | NerdQAxe++ | ~34,247 years | 0.00003% |
| 10 TH/s | NerdQAxe++ overclocked / small cluster | ~17,123 years | 0.00006% |
| 100 TH/s | Antminer S19 XP | ~1,712 years | 0.058% |
| 200 TH/s | Antminer S21 | ~856 years | 0.117% |
| 1 PH/s (1,000 TH/s) | Small farm (5x S21) | ~171 years | 0.58% |
| 10 PH/s | Mid-size operation | ~17.1 years | 5.7% |
| 100 PH/s | Large operation | ~1.7 years | 44.4% |
These numbers look impossibly long for small miners — and they are, in terms of expected outcomes. But probability is not destiny. A Bitaxe with 500 GH/s found Block #853,742 in July 2024. The expected time for that device was hundreds of thousands of years, and yet it happened in a matter of months. That is how probability works: unlikely is not impossible.
Want to calculate your specific odds? Use D-Central’s Solo Mining Calculator to see your probability with your exact hardware.
Solo Mining Success Stories
The theoretical math says solo mining with small hardware should take thousands of years. Reality disagrees. Here are the confirmed solo mining victories from open-source home mining hardware — the kind of devices D-Central sells and supports:
Block #853,742 — July 24, 2024 (The One That Started It All)
A solo miner running a single Bitaxe Supra with approximately 500 GH/s of hashrate found a full Bitcoin block through Solo CKPool. The reward: approximately 3.15 BTC (~$200,000). The block was mined at roughly 11:43 AM UTC and yielded the full block subsidy of 3.125 BTC plus approximately 0.025 BTC in transaction fees.
This was the block heard ’round the world. A palm-sized, open-source miner drawing 15 watts solved a block that industrial farms with thousands of machines compete for. It proved that solo mining with small hardware is not just a dream — it actually happens.
Block #887,212 — March 10, 2025 (David Beats Goliath Again)
A cluster of six Bitaxe devices with a combined hashrate of approximately 3.3 TH/s found block #887,212 through Solo CKPool. The winning hash was submitted by a Bitaxe Ultra contributing around 480 GH/s individually. The reward: approximately 3.15 BTC (~$250,000).
This block demonstrated the “swarm mining” approach — running multiple small open-source miners together to increase your lottery tickets while maintaining full decentralization.
Block #889,975 — Late March 2025 (The Gamma Strike)
A solo miner running a stock Bitaxe Gamma (1.2 TH/s, 18W) captured block #889,975, earning 3.149 BTC including transaction fees. With a lighter block of 1,610 transactions, it was the fourth confirmed solo win in March 2025 alone — a month when the solo mining gods were generous.
Block #913,272 — September 5, 2025 (NerdQAxe++ Makes History)
A NerdQAxe++ submitted the winning hash for Bitcoin block #913,272, marking the first confirmed block found by this quad-chip open-source miner. The miner was hashing through OCEAN Mining‘s DATUM setup with a Start9 Labs server — fully open-source, self-sovereign infrastructure from top to bottom. At a network hashrate of approximately 1 Zetahash, the expected time for a NerdQAxe++ to find a block solo was roughly 4,145 years. It happened in months.
Block #920,440 — October 23, 2025 (The Public Pool Victory)
A NerdQAxe++ Revision 6 found block #920,440 while pointed at a self-hosted Public Pool instance running on Umbrel. Both the hardware and the software were entirely open-source. This was the largest confirmed payout to a home miner using open-source hardware — approximately $342,000 in BTC at the time.
Block #924,569 — November 21, 2025 (The Gamma Swarm)
A cluster of Bitaxe Gamma 602 units with a combined hashrate of approximately 5.4 TH/s found block #924,569 through Solo CKPool. The reward: 3.08349744 BTC (~$266,000), paid directly to the miner’s address. The odds? One chance in 180 million.
Combined, these confirmed open-source hardware block finds have earned home miners over $1 million in BTC rewards. And beyond these, over 22 additional solo miners found blocks in 2025 using various hardware through services like Solo CKPool — proof that the solo mining lottery has real winners.
How to Start Solo Mining
Getting started with solo mining is surprisingly simple. Here is your step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Choose Your Hardware
Your hardware determines how many lottery tickets you get per second. There are two main approaches:
- Low-cost lottery mining: Devices like the Bitaxe (500 GH/s to 2+ TH/s) are affordable, silent, and sip power. They are the Bitcoin miner’s equivalent of a $2 lottery ticket — except you can hold it forever. Starting around $50-200, a Bitaxe gives you a perpetual shot at the full block reward.
- Serious odds improvement: A full ASIC miner like an Antminer S21 (200 TH/s) pointed at a solo pool dramatically increases your chances. At 200 TH/s, your expected time drops from hundreds of thousands of years to roughly 856 years — still long, but 400x better odds than a single Bitaxe. Some miners run multiple ASICs on solo for months at a time, willing to accept the variance.
New to choosing hardware? Read our complete guide to starting Bitcoin mining for hardware recommendations at every budget.
Step 2: Choose a Solo Mining Pool
A solo mining pool (sometimes called a “solo mining proxy”) relays your work to the Bitcoin network without combining your hashrate with other miners. The three most popular options:
| Solo Pool | Fee | Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo CKPool | 2% (deducted from block reward) | No registration, anonymous, proven track record, most solo blocks found here | Most solo miners — simple, reliable, battle-tested |
| public-pool.io | 0% (free) | Zero fees, open-source, can self-host on Umbrel/Start9 | Sovereignty maximalists who want zero fees and full control |
| OCEAN (solo/DATUM mode) | 0% (non-custodial) | Block template construction, non-custodial payouts, DATUM protocol | Advanced users prioritizing decentralization and transparency |
Each of these services has had solo miners find blocks through them. Solo CKPool has the longest track record and the most confirmed solo block finds. Public-pool.io offers zero fees and full self-hosting capability. OCEAN provides the most advanced decentralization features with their DATUM protocol.
For a deeper comparison, see our guide to the best Bitcoin mining pools.
Step 3: Configure Your Miner
Configuration is nearly identical to pool mining — you just point at a different address. Here is what you need:
- Stratum URL: The solo pool’s server address (e.g.,
stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333for Solo CKPool, orstratum+tcp://public-pool.io:21496for public-pool.io) - Username/Worker: Your Bitcoin address (this is where the block reward goes if you win)
- Password: Usually
xor left blank
For Bitaxe and other open-source miners, you access the device’s web interface (typically at its local IP address), enter these details in the mining configuration page, and save. The miner immediately begins submitting hashes.
Step 4: Set Your Bitcoin Address
This is critical. The Bitcoin address you enter as your “username” in the mining configuration is the address that receives the block reward if your miner finds a block. Use a Bitcoin address from a wallet you fully control — a hardware wallet like a Coldcard, Trezor, or Foundation Passport is ideal. Never use an exchange address.
Double-check the address. Triple-check it. If you find a block and the address is wrong, there is no way to recover the reward.
Step 5: Wait, Hope, and Stack Sats
Once your miner is running and submitting shares to your solo pool, the setup is complete. Your device is now generating lottery tickets 24/7. Check your solo pool’s dashboard periodically to confirm your miner is submitting shares and staying connected.
Some miners like to check their pool dashboard obsessively. Others set it and forget it. Both approaches are valid. The block will come when it comes — or it will not. That uncertainty is the entire point.
Best Hardware for Solo Mining
The right hardware for solo mining depends on your goals and budget. Here are the best options, from lottery-ticket devices to serious hashrate machines:
Open-Source Solo Miners (The Lottery Ticket Approach)
These devices are purpose-built for solo mining. They are affordable, quiet, energy-efficient, and sit on your desk. They will probably never find a block — but several already have.
| Device | Hashrate | Power Draw | Price Range | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitaxe Supra | ~500 GH/s | ~12W | $50-80 | Ultra-low-cost entry, proven block finder |
| Bitaxe Gamma | ~1.2 TH/s | ~18W | $80-120 | Best value for solo mining, BM1370 chip |
| Bitaxe GT (Gamma Turbo) | ~2.15 TH/s | ~25W | $120-180 | Dual-chip design, higher odds |
| Bitaxe Hex | ~3+ TH/s | ~45W | $200-350 | Six-chip board, serious desktop hashrate |
| NerdQAxe++ | ~4.8 TH/s (stock) | ~72W | $200-300 | Highest open-source hashrate, overclockable to 6.5+ TH/s |
| Nerdminer | ~50 KH/s | <1W | $20-40 | Educational, conversation piece, extreme lottery |
| NerdAxe | ~500 GH/s | ~12W | $50-80 | Open-source alternative to Bitaxe Supra |
D-Central is a pioneer in the Bitaxe ecosystem, having created the original Bitaxe Mesh Stand and developed many leading accessories. We stock every Bitaxe variant, every NerdAxe and NerdQAxe++ model, and all the accessories you need to get started. Browse the full selection in our Bitaxe shop.
Full ASIC Miners on Solo Pools (The Serious Approach)
For miners who want meaningfully better odds, pointing a full ASIC miner at a solo pool is the way. These machines are louder, power-hungry, and more expensive — but they generate orders of magnitude more hashes per second.
| Device | Hashrate | Power Draw | Expected Time Per Block (Solo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antminer S19 XP | 140 TH/s | ~3,010W | ~1,224 years |
| Antminer S21 | 200 TH/s | ~3,500W | ~856 years |
| Antminer S21 Pro | 234 TH/s | ~3,500W | ~732 years |
| 5x S21 (Small Farm) | 1 PH/s | ~17,500W | ~171 years |
Some solo miners run full ASICs on solo for a set period — say, three months — before switching back to pool mining. Others commit permanently, viewing the electricity cost as the price of a very expensive lottery ticket with no expiration date.
The Hybrid Approach: Swarm Mining
Several successful block finds came from miners running clusters of small open-source devices. A “swarm” of 5-6 Bitaxe Gamma units gives you roughly 6-7 TH/s of hashrate for around $500-700 in hardware and ~100W of power. This is the approach that found blocks #887,212 and #924,569.
The swarm approach is appealing because it is modular (add devices over time), quiet (no industrial fans), and each device is individually useful as a heater, educational tool, or desk companion even if the swarm never finds a block.
Solo Mining Pools: Where to Point Your Miner
Solo CKPool
Solo CKPool is the original and most popular solo mining service. Created by Con Kolivas, it requires no registration — you simply point your miner at solo.ckpool.org:3333 and use your Bitcoin address as the username. The service charges a 2% fee, deducted from the block reward only if you find a block. If you never find a block, you pay nothing.
Most of the confirmed Bitaxe and NerdQAxe++ block finds happened through Solo CKPool. It is battle-tested and reliable.
Public Pool (public-pool.io)
Public Pool is a zero-fee solo mining pool. That means if you find a block, you keep 100% of the reward — no fee whatsoever. It is also open-source, meaning you can self-host it on your own server using Umbrel, Start9, or a Raspberry Pi. Block #920,440, found by a NerdQAxe++ Revision 6, was mined through a self-hosted Public Pool instance on Umbrel.
For sovereignty maximalists, self-hosting Public Pool is the ultimate setup: your hardware, your node, your pool, your block template, your reward.
OCEAN Mining (Solo/DATUM Mode)
OCEAN offers a unique approach through their DATUM protocol, which allows miners to construct their own block templates while still submitting work to the network. This gives miners maximum control over which transactions they include in blocks — a feature that matters deeply to miners who care about Bitcoin’s censorship resistance.
Block #913,272, the first NerdQAxe++ block find, was mined through OCEAN’s DATUM setup.
Is Solo Mining Worth It?
Let us be honest: if your only goal is to maximize Bitcoin earnings per dollar spent on electricity, solo mining with a small device is not the rational choice. Pool mining will always deliver more predictable and, over long periods, statistically equivalent total returns.
But solo mining is not really about profit maximization. Here is why people do it anyway:
Sovereignty
Solo mining is the most sovereign way to participate in Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism. You are not delegating your hashrate to a pool operator who decides which transactions go into blocks. Your hashes are your own. For Bitcoiners who take “not your keys, not your coins” seriously, the natural extension is “not your hashrate, not your blocks.”
Decentralization
Mining pool concentration is one of Bitcoin’s most pressing concerns. When a handful of pools control the majority of the hashrate, the network becomes more vulnerable to censorship, regulatory capture, and 51% attacks. Every solo miner — even one running a single Bitaxe — is an independent voice on the network that no pool operator can silence.
This is D-Central’s core mission: decentralization of every layer of Bitcoin mining. Solo mining is that mission in its purest form.
Education
There is no better way to understand how Bitcoin mining works than to do it yourself. Setting up a solo miner teaches you about hashrates, difficulty, nonces, block rewards, stratum protocols, and the elegance of proof of work. Watching your Bitaxe submit shares to Solo CKPool makes the abstract concepts of Bitcoin mining tangible.
The Lottery Ticket You Can Hold Forever
A traditional lottery ticket expires. A solo miner does not. As long as your device is plugged in and hashing, every second of every day, you have a chance at the full block reward. The expected value of that chance is tiny, but the maximum outcome is life-changing.
A Bitaxe Gamma costs about $100 and draws 18 watts — roughly $15-25 per year in electricity depending on your power costs. For the price of a cup of coffee per month, you have a perpetual lottery ticket for 3.125+ BTC. That is a proposition many Bitcoiners find irresistible.
Network Health
Every hash submitted to the Bitcoin network contributes to its security, regardless of whether it comes from a pool or a solo miner. Solo mining is a direct investment in Bitcoin’s security infrastructure. Your Bitaxe on your desk is a tiny but real guardian of the network.
Dual-Purpose Mining
Every watt your miner consumes is converted to heat. In cold climates — and Canada has no shortage of cold — that heat offsets your heating bill. A Bitcoin Space Heater or even a cluster of Bitaxe units provides meaningful supplemental heat while simultaneously buying you lottery tickets for a full block reward. The electricity is not “wasted” — it is doing double duty.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a single Bitaxe really find a Bitcoin block?
Yes. It has happened multiple times. Block #853,742 (July 2024) was found by a single Bitaxe Supra with approximately 500 GH/s. Block #889,975 (March 2025) was found by a stock Bitaxe Gamma with 1.2 TH/s. The odds for any individual device are extremely small, but with thousands of Bitaxe units running worldwide, the collective probability makes these events occur more regularly than the math for a single device would suggest.
How much does a solo miner earn per day?
On average, nothing. Solo mining has extreme variance. You either earn the full block reward (3.125+ BTC, currently worth roughly $250,000+) or you earn zero. There is no middle ground. The expected daily earnings from solo mining a Bitaxe are fractions of a cent — but the maximum single-day earnings are a quarter million dollars.
Do I need to run a full Bitcoin node for solo mining?
Not necessarily. Solo mining services like Solo CKPool and public-pool.io handle the node functionality for you. However, for maximum sovereignty, you can self-host Public Pool on a device like a Raspberry Pi running Umbrel or Start9, which includes running your own full node. Block #920,440 was found by a miner using exactly this setup.
What happens if my solo miner finds a block while it is offline?
Nothing — you cannot find a block while offline. Your miner must be actively running and submitting hashes to have any chance of finding a block. Every second your miner is off is a second of zero lottery tickets. Uptime matters in solo mining.
Is solo mining legal?
In most jurisdictions, including Canada and the United States, Bitcoin mining — whether solo or pooled — is legal. Some countries have restrictions or outright bans on cryptocurrency mining. Check your local regulations, but for readers in North America, solo mining is perfectly legal.
What is the difference between solo mining and lottery mining?
They are the same thing. “Lottery mining” is a colloquial term for solo mining with small hardware, emphasizing the lottery-like odds and all-or-nothing nature of the activity. The terms are interchangeable.
Can I solo mine with a regular computer or GPU?
Technically yes, but practically no. The Bitcoin network’s difficulty is so high that a CPU or GPU has a virtually zero chance of ever finding a block in the lifetime of the universe. Even the cheapest ASIC — a Nerdminer at ~50 KH/s — produces millions of times more hashes per second than a GPU. For Bitcoin solo mining, you need ASIC hardware.
How do I know if my solo miner found a block?
Your solo mining pool will notify you. Solo CKPool shows block finds on your dashboard (accessible by entering your Bitcoin address). Public-pool.io similarly tracks and displays any blocks found. Many miners also set up notification systems through Telegram bots or email alerts. If you find a block, the reward appears in your Bitcoin wallet as an incoming transaction for 3.125+ BTC.
The Sovereign Choice
Solo mining is not a strategy for maximizing short-term Bitcoin earnings. It is a statement about what kind of miner you want to be and what kind of network you want Bitcoin to have.
Every solo miner is an independent validator, a decentralization node, a small but real check on pool operator power. When you run a Bitaxe on Solo CKPool or a NerdQAxe++ on your self-hosted Public Pool instance, you are participating in Bitcoin’s security model in the most direct way possible.
And yes — you also have a shot at 3.125 BTC appearing in your wallet one morning. That shot is tiny for any individual miner. But it is real. Block #853,742 proved it. Block #887,212 confirmed it. Block #920,440 made it undeniable.
Solo mining is the purest expression of Bitcoin’s founding vision: one CPU (or ASIC), one vote, no intermediaries. Satoshi solo-mined the first blocks. Every solo miner since is carrying that torch.
Ready to start solo mining? Browse D-Central’s complete Bitaxe collection to find your first solo miner, check the Bitaxe Hub for setup guides and overclocking tips, or use our Solo Mining Calculator to see your odds with any hardware.
Every hash is a lottery ticket. And every lottery ticket is a vote for decentralization.