A solo miner has joined the ranks of crypto’s lucky few, mining an entire bitcoin block in July 2026. We break down how they did it and how much they earned.
A miner using a Bitaxe Gamma device mined bitcoin (BTC) block #957,382 through the Public Pool. The reward was 3.1382 coins–roughly $200,000 at current prices.
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At the time of publication, bitcoin trades at roughly $63,050, down just over 1% on the day–below breakeven for many miners.
The device had been running for about eight hours with an average hashrate of 995.2 GH/s–around 1 TH/s. At that power, the statistical probability of finding a block is roughly one in 16,000 to 18,000 years–ess than one successful event per day per million attempts.
This is the second known case of a Bitaxe device finding a solo block through Public Pool.
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Bitaxe: An Open-Source ASIC Miner for $150 That Plugs Into a Wall Socket
Bitaxe is an open-source ASIC miner using Bitmain’s BM1370 chip, the same one found in industrial Antminer S21 units. The palm-sized device delivers 1 to 1.3 TH/s while drawing just 15-21 watts. Bitaxe Gamma models cost $60 to $150. They run off standard wall power and connect to solo pools like Public Pool, which charges no fees–allowing the miner to keep 100% of the block reward.
This isn’t the first time a Bitaxe device has found a block. In July 2024, a Bitaxe Ultra mined block #853,742. In March 2025, another solo miner using a Bitaxe also found a block. In 2024, a miner with 70 TH/s mined a block through Solo CKPool, earning $222,000 with odds of roughly 1 in 100,000 per day.
Read more: Is Crypto Mining Still Legal in 2026? Top 5 Best Countries for Low-Cost, Legal BTC Mining
Solo Miners Are Gaining Popularity as Industry Struggles
Since the start of 2026, solo miners have found 12 blocks. Over the past 12 months, that number stands at 24–up 41% from the previous year. Total payouts came to 75.44 BTC, with an average interval of 15.2 days between finds. The previous success came on June 29, when a Solo CKPool participant earned 3.16 BTC. On May 31, a miner mined a block on a cluster of 14 Canaan Nano devices with a combined hashrate of 157 TH/s through Braiins Solo.
The success comes as large mining companies accelerate their pivot to AI, while difficulty remains high. On July 12, difficulty dropped 5% to 127.17 T–still well above levels seen at the start of the year.
Learn more: Top 5 Bitcoin Mining Methods — How People Are Still Earning BTC in 2026
