Imagine taking a gamble on hardware costing under $150 and walking away with a fortune in Bitcoin. That is exactly what happened to one solo miner who struck crypto gold: using a miniature hobby device called ‘Bitaxe’ priced between $60 and $150, they successfully solved Bitcoin block 957,382 and took home 3.1382 BTC - worth around $200,000.
What makes the story even wilder is that the mining rig had only been running for eight hours on the Public Pool service, averaging a hashrate of just 995 GH/s (roughly 1 terahash per second). That figure is minuscule compared to industrial-scale mining operations.
A Device the Size of a Credit Card
The Bitaxe is an open-source, credit card-sized ASIC miner powered by the Bitmain BM1370 chip, the same silicon used in industrial Antminer S21 mining rigs. Its ‘Gamma’ version can generate between 1 and 1.3 TH/s with a power consumption of just 15 to 21 watts. This also marks the second time a Bitaxe device has successfully solo-mined a block through Public Pool.
Hitting a block through solo mining is indeed like winning the lottery - the odds are slim, but not impossible. Throughout 2026, solo miners have found a total of 12 blocks. On June 29, a miner on Solo CKPool secured 3.16 BTC. On May 31, another miner running a small cluster of 14 Canaan Nano units (totaling 157 TH/s) also found a block via Braiins Solo. Over the past 12 months, solo miners have collectively claimed 24 blocks - a 41% increase compared to the previous year, with total payouts reaching 75.44 BTC.
Small Miners Strike Gold as Giants Face Pressure
Interestingly, the small miner’s stroke of luck comes at a time when industrial-scale mining operations face tight profit margins. These conditions have driven several major Bitcoin mining firms to pivot toward AI data center infrastructure and related businesses to stay afloat. Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 5% to 127.17 trillion on July 12 - after tumbling more than 10% in mid-June before staging a partial recovery.
The story carries both an inspiring and realistic takeaway: anyone can technically enter the Bitcoin network ‘lottery’ with inexpensive hardware, even though the odds remain slim and it is hardly a reliable investment strategy. For one lucky solo miner, eight hours of runtime on a credit card-sized machine proved capable of turning pocket change into an unforgettable windfall.
Via CoinDesk.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
