You finally did it.
After weeks (or months) of researching hash rates, power draw, and delivery times, your brand-new ASIC miner arrives. You unbox it, plug it in, configure your settings, and point it to a mining pool. The fans spin up. Hashes start flying. You’re officially mining Bitcoin.
You’re happy.
But this is where the mistake happend.
You joined a pool.
The Comfortable Trap of Pool Mining
Pool mining is the default choice for most miners, especially newcomers. It feels safe. Predictable. You see small payouts trickle in daily, sometimes hourly. It’s reassuring to know your machine is “earning” something every day, even if it’s only a few cents.
And for many people, that’s enough.
But comfort comes at a cost, and sometimes, that cost can be massive.
Learn how Bitcoin Solo Mining works here 👇
The $300,000 Lesson
Recently, there was news of a miner using a Canaan Nano 3S on the Foundry pool who successfully mined a block. Claim Source
That sounds incredible, right?
Here’s the painful part.
Because the miner was connected to a pool, the block reward was split among all participants based on contributed hash power. Instead of earning the full block reward, the miner received approximately 0.0000053 BTC(aka 50 cents).
Had that same machine been set up to solo mine, the miner would have earned the entire block reward of 3.125 BTC, worth around $300,000.
Same machine.
Same luck.
Very different outcome.
That’s not a technical mistake. That’s a strategic one.
Pools Remove the Magic
When you pool mine, you’re trading excitement for stability.
You give up the chance at a life-changing win in exchange for tiny, predictable payouts. Pool mining turns Bitcoin mining into something closer to a savings account with terrible interest, low risk, low reward, and honestly… boring.
There’s no thrill.
No anticipation.
No moment where you check your node and realize you just solved a block.
Solo Mining Is a Lottery, and That’s the Point
Solo mining is often criticized as “impossible,” “stupid,” or “a waste of time” unless you have massive hash power. But that misses the point entirely.
Bitcoin mining has always been probabilistic.
Every hash is a lottery ticket.
Yes, larger machines have better odds, but small machines can still win. That Nano 3S proved it. Luck doesn’t care how expensive your setup is. When your number comes up, it comes up.
The real question is simple:
When luck strikes, do you want to share the reward, or keep it all?
Five Cents a Day or the Jackpot?
Some miners are perfectly fine earning five cents a day. There’s nothing wrong with that. Pool mining makes sense if your goal is steady income, accounting simplicity, or minimizing variance.
But others mine for a different reason.
They mine to dream.
They mine for that moment where years of hashing suddenly pay off in a single block. The adrenaline rush. The screenshot. The story you’ll tell forever.
Solo miners aren’t chasing daily payouts, they’re chasing 3.125 BTC.
Why Solo Mining Is More Fun
Let’s be honest: fun matters.
Solo mining:
- Feels personal
- Makes every block found meaningful
- Turns mining into an event, not a chore
- Keeps the original spirit of Bitcoin alive
When you solo mine, you’re not just renting hash power to a pool operator. You’re participating directly in Bitcoin’s consensus. You’re running your own node. You’re taking responsibility, and risk, for your rewards.
That’s exciting.
Final Thoughts
Pool mining isn’t wrong, but it’s not the only way, and it’s definitely not the most exciting way.
The next time you plug in a miner, ask yourself what you actually want:
- Predictable pennies
- Or a shot at something extraordinary
Because sometimes, the difference between $0.05 and $300,000 isn’t your hardware.
It’s one checkbox in your mining configuration.
Solo mining isn’t about guarantees.
It’s about possibility.
And for some of us, that’s the whole point.
You can start Solo mining with any of these machines!
