(Headline article below) We call this Lotto mining. It’s using a small miner with harvested ASIC chip(s) from a larger miner. Consequently, I have one of these with a minimal power draw which actually has a larger hashrate (1.2 Th/s) than a large mining box I ran back in the mid 2010’s (380 Gh/s) when I learned about Bitcoin. If you attached it to a mining pool it wouldn’t earn you much, but you can run it as a lotto miner, where if you find the hash/nonce for the next block first you get the reward, 3.125 Bitcoin. I mainly run mine just to support the Bitcoin network I value so much, but I notice during the day that blocks are slowing down which makes me think large miners are taking hashrate offline or diverting it to other chains, which increases your chances of winning a block with a lotto miner. Current odds for 1.2 Th/s is 1 in 690,383,333 per block, or 1 in 4,794,329 per day. And it’s fun while also providing a fallback layer for processing blocks if large corporate miners go offline. The only negative would be having to pay taxes on the income, putting you in a higher tax bracket…
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/07/14/solo-btc-miner-makes-usd200-000-using-usd150-equipment
Solo Bitcoin mining has surged, with 24 blocks found in the past 12 months, a 41% increase year over year.
By Omkar Godbole, AI Boost, Edited by Shaurya Malwa
Summary
- A solo miner using a low-power, credit-card-sized Bitaxe device unexpectedly mined Bitcoin block 957,382, earning 3.1382 BTC worth about $200,000 despite odds estimated at once in 18,000 years.
A solo bitcoin miner recently hit the jackpot in a lottery-like stroke of luck, turning a modest investment into an outsized gain.
The miner equipped with a small, hobbyist-grade device called a Bitaxe recently struck Bitcoin block number 957,382 and walked away with 3.1382 BTC, worth roughly $200,000.
The miner was running the rig for just eight hours through the Public Pool service. His average hash rate? A measly 995 GH/s, or about 1 terahash per second.
This marks the second time a single Bitaxe has solo-mined a block on Public Pool.
Data tracking handle Public Pool posted the win on X.
What is a Bitaxe?
It’s an open-source, credit-card-sized ASIC miner powered by the same Bitmain BM1370 chip found in massive industrial Antminer S21 machines. The Bitaxe Gamma version pumps out 1 to 1.3 TH/s while using just 15-21 watts of power. You can buy one for $60 to $150.
Think of it as the mining equivalent of winning the lottery with a scratch-off ticket from a gas station.
Solo mining is having a moment
This isn’t the first time a solo miner has made big gains on a small investment.
Solo miners have already found 12 blocks in 2026 alone. On June 29, someone on Solo CKPool landed 3.16 BTC. Back on May 31, a miner using a small cluster of 14 Canaan Nano devices (totaling 157 TH/s) hit a block on Braiins Solo.
Over the past 12 months, solo miners have claimed 24 blocks, which equates to a 41% jump from the year before, pocketing a total payout of 75.44 BTC.
While solo miners continue to win, the broader industry is under serious pressure. With margins squeezed, several big Bitcoin mining companies are rushing to pivot into artificial intelligence data centers and related infrastructure to stay afloat.
Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped 5% to 127.17 trillion on July 12. It had plunged more than 10% in mid-June before partially recovering.