Solo Bitcoin miner earns $244K after 40-day drought

An unidentified solo Bitcoin miner discovered a block on the Bitcoin network recently and collected a one-time payout worth about $244,000 after nearly 40 days without a solo find. The amount reflects the market price of the bitcoin in the block and the transaction fees included at confirmation.

Since the April 2024 halving, the fixed subsidy per block is 3.125 BTC. The remainder of a block’s reward comes from transaction fees paid by users. Fees change with transaction volume and with events such as large exchange withdrawals or batched transactions, so total payout can differ from block to block.

Solo mining means attempting to find blocks independently rather than contributing compute power to a pooled operation. Block discovery is a probabilistic event that depends on a miner’s share of the network’s total hashing power. Solo miners can go long stretches without a find and may receive a large payout when they do.

The Bitcoin network’s total hashrate and how that power is distributed across pools and operators affect the odds of a solo discovery. When a relatively small share of hashing power operates independently, the expected wait for a solo block lengthens, producing stretches with no solo finds.

No public statement was released by the miner or an associated operation. Future halvings will reduce the fixed subsidy per block further; if fee levels remain similar, transaction fees would make up a larger portion of miner revenue.