In BTC mining, which is a fierce race among global miners, those with large hashrates often have the upper hand. This is the case because BTC mining is essentially a process of solving difficult math problems through complex computation and miners with larger hashrates are more likely to find the right answer and earn block rewards. Yet still, there are always miners who are lucky enough to beat all other BTC miners with negligible hashrates and win the jackpot.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, on January 20, 2023, a solo miner with only 10 TH mined a Bitcoin block (at block height 772,793) and obtained the full block reward (6.25 BTC), which is worth over $130,000. The miner addressed “1CEm......CZSw” has become one of the lucky few, beating the one-in-the-20-million odds.

Statistically speaking, the odds are stacked against solo miners. Despite that, this is not the first solo miner who earned block rewards. On February 3, 2022, according to the on-chain data, a solo miner with only 13 TH won 6.25 BTC at the block height 721,575. In January 2022, two solo miners also beat the odds with tiny hashrates within a week, both winning the block reward of 6.25 BTC.

Although exciting stories like this are always inspirational, as we mention, it is literally like winning the jackpot: you might not be able to get any right answer in years if you were to join the BTC mining race with just 10 TH. Today, the mining industry is dominated by large-scale pools and farms that produce the majority of the BTC blocks, and miners can join a pool to receive mining rewards based on their hashrate contribution.

According to BTC.COM, the BTC network produced 13,035 blocks during the last three months. Foundry USA, a pool based in North America, is now the largest BTC mining pool, accounting for 28.54% of the total BTC hashrate and producing 3,721 blocks; AntPool, another top pool, takes up 20.32% of the hashrate and generated 2,648 blocks; F2Pool, one of the oldest pools, runs 15.02% of the hashrate and mined 1,967 blocks; Binance Pool, an emerging pool, owns 11.89% of the hashrate and produced 1,546 blocks; ViaBTC, an all-encompassing global mining pool, operates 9.04% of the hashrate and delivered 1,180 blocks.

Source: https://explorer.btc.com/btc/insights-pools

We can tell that the five largest pools generate over 84% of the BTC output. In a segment dominated by mining pools, it will become more difficult for solo miners to win block rewards.

According to results from the Profit Calculator provided by ViaBTC Pool, miners with 10 TH can earn about $0.74 a day, which could add up to a decent sum over the long term. Although that level of profit is no match to the full block reward, only a few miners could be a lucky dog, and most block rewards are earned by pools.

While envying the lucky miners, we should also be aware that in reality, not everyone can beat the once-in-a-lifetime odds, and plenty of solo miners couldn’t get any block reward for years. Would you like to bet years of time and effort on the extremely low probability of winning the jackpot? Or would you rather join a pool to earn steady profits day by day?