A solo Bitcoin miner recently hit the jackpot in a lottery-like stroke of luck, turning a modest investment into an outsized win.
The miner equipped with a small, amateur-grade device called Bitaxe recently hit Bitcoin block number 957,382 and walked away with 3.1382 BTC, worth about $200,000.
The miner operated the rig for just eight hours through the Public Pool service. Its average hash rate? A measly 995 GH/s, or about 1 terahash per second.
This is the second time that a single Bitaxe has solo exploited a block on Public Pool.
The Public Pool data tracking manager showed victory over X.
What is a Bitaxe?
It’s an open-source, credit card-sized ASIC miner, powered by the same Bitmain BM1370 chip found in the massive Antminer S21 industrial machines. The Bitaxe Gamma version produces 1 to 1.3 TH/s while using only 15 to 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 ticket at a gas station.
Solo mining is having a moment
This is not the first time a solo miner has made big gains with a small investment.
