A solo miner succeeded in producing the header for Bitcoin block 881423, taking the whole 3.125 BTC rewards. The miner is part of a new drive to use simple equipment to bring back retail BTC block production.
A Bitcoin block at height 881423 was solved by a solo miner, who took the entire 3.125 BTC reward. Despite the near-record hashrate and competition, mining remains a game of luck, and the block was discovered with a small fraction of the total hashrate.
The discovery of a solo block usually happens a few times a year and is highly improbable but not impossible. BTC is mined at more than 775 TH/s, while the miner did not exceed 992 ph/s and mined at a much lower rate. The block, valued at $326,301, was discovered with specially created, consumer-facing equipment mining at a low baseline rate.
The block was also discovered at peak difficulty conditions after a year of constantly increasing the complexity of the Bitcoin puzzle.
Lucky block is the second one coming from FutureBit equipment
Solo mining can be done with any equipment, including a series of rigs. This time, the miner used FutureBit’s mining setup, which aims to bring back mining to retail users, relying on a bit of luck to discover a block.
The recently discovered block is actually the second for a FutureBit user. In October 2024, a FutureBit user solved block 867760, again with a 3.125 BTC reward.
Solving two blocks through FutureBit usage is an achievement that may raise exposure for the project.
The second block, which was solved this January, was also discovered accidentally during a FutureBit publicity event. FutureBit used the event to showcase its equipment and hashrate, pointing hashing power with a self-hosted Apollo node.
We have reached maximum dynamic hashpower…
1 EH/s being directed to a single Apollo Full Node!
Wild🤯 pic.twitter.com/dv3oclaPJa
— FutureBit (@FutureBit) January 29, 2025
The block was thus discovered during the fundraiser event of the 256 Foundation, a Bitcoin education and mining initiative.
The event also meant that the block actually required multiple FutureBit devices to achieve the maximum hashing power. At the same time, discovering a block with such a low hashrate was an astronomically rare event.
Essentially, owners of FutureBit equipment ran their own Apollo node, then worked as a mini-pool to point peak hashrate. With a bit of luck, the wallet connected to the node grabbed the reward. FutureBit did not give more details on who will end up with the prize. Estimates of the mining event during the fundraiser show that there were 296 participants with coordinated mining equipment, though only a single node took the reward.
FutureBit wants to move away from large pools
The ‘Made in USA’ mining most often refers to the top US-based pools, especially Foundry. Pool competition is global, but large-scale miners are usually regional. US-based mining leaders include MARA Holdings, Canaan Minind, and other publicly traded companies.
FutureBit aims to bring a form of solo mining that offers a mix of equipment and node operation tools and a return to solo mining. FutureBit does not limit its hashrate but aims to solve the BTC block solo without adding that hashrate to a larger pool.
Solo mining operations can also happen with a hashrate from large mining centers. The disadvantage of solo mining is the rarity of discovering a block. The main advantage is that the block reward is not shared with all pool participants.
FutureBit offers node equipment that can connect to extremely high hashrate and is compatible with big data centers or even pools. Apollo nodes can also handle minimal, retail-sized hashrate from one or multiple machines.
FutureBit’s equipment is a multi-chip ASIC, capable of producing around 3 TH/s. This amount of hashing power is insufficient to solve a node with any realistic probability, but has the advantage of running a full archival Bitcoin node.
The equipment moves away from the dominance of large mining centers, and may be used to sign and verify personal transactions faster. Running a node is also one of the key components of a more widely decentralized Bitcoin network, which relies on more diversified hardware. Apollo retails for under $700, allowing retail miners to run a node or run the chance of solving a block with a relatively smaller investment.
