Back in January we wrote that switching a SHA-256 miner from Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash improved your solo odds by 163 times (here is that post). Most people still think a SHA-256 ASIC can only mine Bitcoin. That is still not true. We redid the math on October 20, 2026 with today's network numbers on the home machines people run today, and the gap has grown. It is about 308 times.
Let's break it down.
Same chip, two coins
Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) use the same mining algorithm, SHA-256. Both aim for a block every ten minutes and both pay 3.125 coins plus fees per block. Any machine built for Bitcoin can mine Bitcoin Cash with nothing more than a settings change.
What is wildly different is the probability of actually finding a block, because far fewer machines are competing for each Bitcoin Cash block.
The numbers on October 20, 2026
We used the Hammer Thor P2, a 10 TH/s home miner, as the reference.
Solo mining Bitcoin (BTC)
Block reward about $258,600. Odds of finding a block about 1 in 699,000 per day. Mining Bitcoin solo is a lottery ticket. If you win, it is life changing, but the odds are extremely slim.
Solo mining Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Block reward about $870. Odds of finding a block about 1 in 2,264 per day. The reward is smaller, but the odds are dramatically better: on the same hardware, about 308 times better.
Why it went from 163x to 308x
Your odds come down to one number, the network difficulty. Bitcoin's difficulty was about 140.6 trillion today (mempool.space). Bitcoin Cash's averaged about 455 billion over its last 100 blocks (Blockchair). Divide one by the other and you get 308.
Bitcoin's hashrate kept climbing through 2026 while Bitcoin Cash's stayed small, so the gap roughly doubled since January. Bitcoin Cash also adjusts its difficulty every block (ASERT), so its number moves through the day. If you want your own figure, solochance.org does the arithmetic for any hashrate.
Same race, far fewer runners
Every block is a race. The whole network makes guesses, and whoever finds a winning answer first gets the block. Your odds are simply your share of all the guessing.
Your miner is exactly the same size in both races. It is just racing a field that is hundreds of times smaller on Bitcoin Cash, which is where the 308x comes from.
The trade: a smaller prize, far more often
Bitcoin Cash does not give you something for nothing. A Bitcoin block is worth about $258,600 today and a Bitcoin Cash block about $870. What changes is how long you should expect to wait. On a 10 TH/s home miner the expected wait for a Bitcoin block is about 1,900 years. On Bitcoin Cash it is about 6 years.
Averaged over a very long time, the two come out close. The real difference is whether it ever happens to you. Nobody mining at home lives 1,900 years, so for a home miner that has never found a block, Bitcoin Cash is the coin where a block is a realistic event. Expected waits are averages, not schedules: a block can land on day one, or never.
Odds by machine
Here is what the switch looks like on three home SHA-256 miners, as examples.
| Machine | Bitcoin, per day | Bitcoin Cash, per day | BCH block within a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer Thor P2 10 TH/s |
1 in 699,000 | 1 in 2,264 | about 15% |
| Harlo H15 Dual 15 TH/s |
1 in 466,000 | 1 in 1,510 | about 21% |
| Harlo B30 30 TH/s |
1 in 233,000 | 1 in 755 | about 38% |
Solo, at the network difficulty on October 20, 2026. These are odds, not a schedule: a block can land on day one or not at all.
For comparison, the 1.2 TH/s Bitaxe from our January post now sits at 1 in 5,823,000 on Bitcoin and 1 in 18,900 on Bitcoin Cash. Hashrate multiplies your odds, and the coin you point it at multiplies them again.
Hammer Thor P2, 10 TH/s
10 TH/s from about 166 W at roughly 40 dB, and it runs Harlo OS.
Expected wait for a block: about 1,900 years on Bitcoin, about 6 years on Bitcoin Cash.
Harlo H15 Dual, 15 TH/s
15 TH/s of SHA-256 plus 1.08 GH/s of scrypt for Dogecoin and Litecoin in the same box.
Expected wait for a block: about 1,300 years on Bitcoin, about 4 years on Bitcoin Cash.
Harlo B30, 30 TH/s
30 TH/s in Turbo at 485 W, about 50 dB.
Expected wait for a block: about 600 years on Bitcoin, about 2 years on Bitcoin Cash.
Two kinds of solo miners
This really comes down to two different types of miners. Bitcoin solo miners are chasing the massive jackpot: high reward, extremely low probability, the house paid off if it ever lands. Bitcoin Cash solo miners want realistic odds. The payout is lower, but you are far more likely to actually see a block with your name on it.
For a lot of home miners, that trade just makes sense.
You do not have to choose: Harlo OS
This is the part that is new since January. Harlo OS, the firmware from Harlo Labs that runs on the Thor P2 and is built for the Harlo B30, holds up to four pools at once with a percentage split for each. So you can keep most of your hashrate on Bitcoin for the jackpot and point a slice at Bitcoin Cash for the realistic shot, from the same machine, at the same time.
It also tests the latency to each endpoint from your own house, fails over to a backup if one drops and returns to your main one when it is back. More on Harlo OS here.
How to switch to Bitcoin Cash
If you already solo mine, switching is surprisingly easy. No firmware changes, no hardware swaps.
- Get a Bitcoin Cash address from your wallet.
- In your miner's pool settings (Harlo OS, AxeOS or the stock dashboard), point a pool at a Bitcoin Cash solo endpoint and use your BCH address as the username.
- Save, then restart the miner. Sometimes the new pool details do not take until it reboots.
- Give it a minute and check the dashboard shows the pool connected and shares accepted.
On Mining Dutch it is even simpler: open your worker group, change the coin from BTC to BCH, and save. They charge 1% on solo blocks.
That is it. A coin selection change, and your odds improve about 308 times.
Something is coming for Bitcoin Cash solo miners
We have been running these numbers on our own machines for months, and it changed how we think about solo mining. We are building something for everyone who wants to take the Bitcoin Cash shot from home. Leave your email and you hear about it first.
You are on the list. We will email you the moment it is ready.
Final thoughts
A lot of people expect mining optimization to be complicated. Sometimes it is not. Switching from Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash is a simple change that can massively improve your chances of actually mining a block, without changing your hardware at all.
Short. Sweet. Happy mining.
Frequently asked questions
Can my Bitcoin miner really mine Bitcoin Cash?
Yes. Bitcoin Cash split from Bitcoin in 2017 and kept the same SHA-256 algorithm, so any SHA-256 ASIC mines it with no new hardware and no new firmware. Only the coin you point it at changes.
Why is it 308x now when it was 163x in January?
The odds follow network difficulty. Bitcoin's difficulty kept climbing while Bitcoin Cash's stayed small, so the gap between them roughly doubled. The number moves, so check it before you switch.
Can I mine both at the same time?
With Harlo OS, yes. It holds up to four pools with a percentage split, so you can keep most of your hashrate on Bitcoin and point a slice at Bitcoin Cash.
What do I need besides the miner?
A Bitcoin Cash address for the payout and a solo endpoint that supports BCH. Your address goes in as the username on most solo setups.
Is the block reward the same?
Both coins pay 3.125 coins plus fees per block, but a Bitcoin Cash coin is worth far less than a Bitcoin, so a BCH block is about $870 today against about $258,600 for a Bitcoin block.