For years, the Bitcoin mining world has repeated the same advice like gospel:
“Solo mining is pointless.”
“You’re wasting electricity.”
“You’ll never find a block without petahashes.”
And yet… someone just proved all of that wrong.
A Reddit user known as eightofspace recently posted something most miners only ever dream about:
He found a Bitcoin block. Solo.
Not with a massive industrial farm.
Not with petahashes of power.
But with a small, home-built setup.
The Setup Everyone Said Was a Waste of Money
Eightofspace wasn’t new to mining. He had been experimenting, building, and sharing his journey in the BitAxe community.
His setup included:
- A build with 6 NerdQaxe++ units
- An Avalon Q
- Total hash rate of roughly 120–130 TH/s
That’s it.
No warehouse.
No corporate backing.
No massive capital investment.
Just small, efficient miners, the kind people constantly dismiss as “toys.”
“You’ll Never Find a Block”
According to his post, the criticism was constant.
People told him:
- He was wasting money
- He had no chance
- You need petahashes to even dream of success
- Solo mining at that scale was “impossible”
But instead of listening, he kept mining.
And then it happened.
A Bitcoin Block, Solo
Against all odds, one of his tiny NerdQaxe miners found a full Bitcoin block.
Not pooled.
Not shared.
Solo.
The reward:
- 3.09 BTC
- Worth $342,564.17 at the time
After estimating taxes (around $158,000), he’s still walking away with roughly:
$200,000 net
From a miner that costs about $400.
Let that sink in.
The Numbers That Matter
Some important technical details from his post:
- Max difficulty hit: 2.08 P
- Actual device hash rate: ~5.3 TH/s
- Node setup: Umbrel running Bitcoin Core
- No fancy forks or custom tweaks, just a basic, clean setup
This wasn’t a lab experiment or a theoretical edge case.
This was real mining, on the real Bitcoin network, producing a real block.
Why This Matters (Even If You Never Find a Block)
Will everyone who solo mines hit a block?
Of course not.
But that’s not the point.
The point is that it’s possible, and the narrative that small miners have zero chance is simply false.
Bitcoin mining has always been probabilistic.
Every hash is a lottery ticket.
Yes, bigger miners have better odds.
But odds are not guarantees, and luck doesn’t care how expensive your hardware is.
Pool Mining vs Solo Mining, This Is the Difference
If this miner had been connected to a pool:
- He would have earned pennies
- The block reward would have been shared
- This story would never exist
Because he solo mined:
- He kept 100% of the reward
- One lucky moment changed everything
This is exactly the tradeoff:
- Pool mining = steady, tiny payouts
- Solo mining = no guarantees, but life-changing upside
Want to learn more about Solo mining? Check out this blog 👇
The Takeaway
Eightofspace said it best himself:
“Everyone says it’s hard. You’re wasting money. You’ll never find one… Well f*** those guys. We got proof now.”
Small miners work.
Solo mining works.
Luck is real.
And sometimes, a $400 machine really can beat the world.
