Last week, another Bitcoin miner broke the norm by independently processing a block and receiving a reward of 3.125 Bitcoins. At that time, the reward (including transaction fees) was $259,637. In recent months, there have been multiple cases where independent miners have mined Bitcoin blocks.

Is it just good luck for the miners? Is independent mining becoming more and more common? Compared with publicly traded miners, can ordinary people connect an amateur mining machine and achieve success with minimal resources?

The answers vary. The term "independent miner" is used to describe various types of miners, ranging from miners who do it as a personal hobby to groups that prefer to operate privately and discreetly. They are achieving success with increasing frequency, but not significantly so—and the total number is unlikely to soar dramatically.

Scott Norris, CEO of independent Bitcoin miner Optiminer, said that mining without the support of large mining pools "is still like buying a lottery ticket."

In 2022, independent miners using Solo CKPool (a service that allows anonymous miners to mine without running their own full Bitcoin nodes) processed 7 blocks. In 2023, this number jumped to 12 blocks. In 2024, the number reached 16 blocks.

However, just because a block is mined using Solo CKPool doesn't necessarily mean that someone is mining Bitcoin alone in their bedroom with an extremely low hash rate. Some in the cryptocurrency community have made this claim, but it is incorrect.

The mining pool industry is dominated by a few large companies—such as Foundry, AntPool, and F2Pool. Miners connect to the mining pool, share resources, and distribute rewards. When using a service like Solo CKPool, miners receive a reward once they find a block and keep almost all of the rewards.

As the Bitcoin network has developed, mining requires more electricity and resources, and mining is usually a business operated by listed companies. Some Bitcoin enthusiasts believe this is not good for Bitcoin because the Bitcoin network should be as decentralized as possible.

Amateur mining devices like Bitaxe and FutureBit Apollo, which cost between $200 and $500, have now become the favorite devices of "Bitcoin extremists." In January this year, a FutureBit Apollo processed a block, but this was thanks to a non-profit organization donating the hash rate from other machines to this one.

At that time, the anonymous Bitcoin miner Econoalchemist said on the X platform that their idea was to "disintegrate the proprietary mining empire and make Bitcoin and free technology accessible to everyone."

Although the likelihood of this vision being realized is small, in recent months, the rise of amateur miners may be driving a noticeable increase in the success rate of individual mining.

Econoalchemist said: "Every once in a while, and increasingly frequently, a Bitaxe or a similar small mining device independently processes a block and runs quietly in someone's home."

Scott Norris of Optimer pointed out that companies can process blocks by having a large amount of hash rate instead of going through large mining pools.

Even Solo Satoshi, which is based in Houston, Texas and sells mining devices such as Bitaxe Gamma, states on its website that using a Bitaxe machine worth $180 with a hash rate of 1.2 TH/s, the probability of mining a block every day is 0.00068390%.

But Matt Howard, the founder of Solo Satoshi, said that investing in independent mining is not necessarily for making money. "The main goal is to further decentralize. Finding a block and receiving a Bitcoin reward is an added bonus. For Bitcoin extremists, they understand that mining needs to be decentralized.

Last week, another Bitcoin miner broke the norm by independently processing a block and receiving a reward of 3.125 Bitcoins. At that time, the reward (including transaction fees) was $259,637. In recent months, there have been multiple cases where independent miners have mined Bitcoin blocks.

Is it just good luck for the miners? Is independent mining becoming more and more common? Compared with publicly traded miners, can ordinary people connect an amateur mining machine and achieve success with minimal resources?

The answers vary. The term "independent miner" is used to describe various types of miners, ranging from miners who do it as a personal hobby to groups that prefer to operate privately and discreetly. They are achieving success with increasing frequency, but not significantly so—and the total number is unlikely to soar dramatically.

Scott Norris, CEO of independent Bitcoin miner Optiminer, said that mining without the support of large mining pools "is still like buying a lottery ticket."

In 2022, independent miners using Solo CKPool (a service that allows anonymous miners to mine without running their own full Bitcoin nodes) processed 7 blocks. In 2023, this number jumped to 12 blocks. In 2024, the number reached 16 blocks.

However, just because a block is mined using Solo CKPool doesn't necessarily mean that someone is mining Bitcoin alone in their bedroom with an extremely low hash rate. Some in the cryptocurrency community have made this claim, but it is incorrect.

The mining pool industry is dominated by a few large companies—such as Foundry, AntPool, and F2Pool. Miners connect to the mining pool, share resources, and distribute rewards. When using a service like Solo CKPool, miners receive a reward once they find a block and keep almost all of the rewards.

As the Bitcoin network has developed, mining requires more electricity and resources, and mining is usually a business operated by listed companies. Some Bitcoin enthusiasts believe this is not good for Bitcoin because the Bitcoin network should be as decentralized as possible.

Amateur mining devices like Bitaxe and FutureBit Apollo, which cost between $200 and $500, have now become the favorite devices of "Bitcoin extremists." In January this year, a FutureBit Apollo processed a block, but this was thanks to a non-profit organization donating the hash rate from other machines to this one.

At that time, the anonymous Bitcoin miner Econoalchemist said on the X platform that their idea was to "disintegrate the proprietary mining empire and make Bitcoin and free technology accessible to everyone."

Although the likelihood of this vision being realized is small, in recent months, the rise of amateur miners may be driving a noticeable increase in the success rate of individual mining.

Econoalchemist said: "Every once in a while, and increasingly frequently, a Bitaxe or a similar small mining device independently processes a block and runs quietly in someone's home."

Scott Norris of Optimer pointed out that companies can process blocks by having a large amount of hash rate instead of going through large mining pools.

Even Solo Satoshi, which is based in Houston, Texas and sells mining devices such as Bitaxe Gamma, states on its website that using a Bitaxe machine worth $180 with a hash rate of 1.2 TH/s, the probability of mining a block every day is 0.00068390%.

But Matt Howard, the founder of Solo Satoshi, said that investing in independent mining is not necessarily for making money. "The main goal is to further decentralize. Finding a block and receiving a Bitcoin reward is an added bonus. For Bitcoin extremists, they understand that mining needs to be decentralized.