Once I first got here onto the Bitcoin scene in 2017, I had modified my Twitter (now X) deal with to “@nikcantmine.” (It was a joke I assumed was humorous on the time since I didn’t have the assets to mine BTC in highschool.) However at present, I formally grew to become “nik CAN mine”.
The opposite week I bought gifted a Bitaxe, a totally open supply (and really small) bitcoin miner, whereas attending the Human Rights Basis’s Bitcoin Summit in Nashville. It’s a fairly neat machine that means that you can hook up with a mining pool or solo mine by yourself.
nik CAN mine pic.twitter.com/Mv1OuTyvBM
— Nikolaus (@nikcantmine) October 8, 2024
Establishing the machine was pretty simple. Tinkering with it was enjoyable and being able to carry a miner within the palm of my hand felt fairly cypherpunk. It looks like a cool strategy to introduce somebody to mining on a really small scale.
In fact, by connecting this miner to a pool, I wouldn’t stand to achieve any actual revenue, as this miner is negligible in comparison with what energy is definitely wanted at present to profitably mine BTC at present. However solo mining with this machine is the place issues get a bit attention-grabbing.
Earlier this summer season, a Bitaxe solo miner truly beat the percentages and mined a solo block, incomes the block reward of three.25 BTC at the moment price over $205,000.
Congratulations to miner with the primary bitaxe block, solely a tiny 3TH for locating the 290th solo block on solo ckpool! This a lot hashrate solely would discover a block as soon as each 3500 YEARS on common, or 1 in 1.2 MILLION probability per day! https://t.co/5Wtu9jydsF pic.twitter.com/D5sSzug42P
— Dr -ck (@ckpooldev) July 24, 2024
Information reveals this miner had mined constantly with 500Gh/s price of hashrate for weeks, after which had elevated its hashrate as much as 3TH proper earlier than the block was discovered. Which considerably encourages me understanding that my Bitaxe is at the moment mining at over 634Gh/s.
However I’m not getting my hopes up, contemplating I don’t have extra hashrate so as to add and the percentages of discovering a block with this little hash charge is round 1 in 1.2 million per day, based on the Solo Ckpool admin, Dr -ck.
My solo mining stats
Nonetheless, I bought this machine without cost, so I assumed why not plug it in and see what occurs? I’ll cope with the ability invoice later once I see how a lot it’s, and re-evaluate if that is price it to maintain working. Having used it, I in all probability wouldn’t buy one based mostly on the economics of it alone, since I wouldn’t be capable to make my a refund except I hit the lottery. However I might perhaps buy one simply to have as a enjoyable toy.
The chances of me discovering a block is 0.001% per day, nevertheless it actually simply feels enjoyable to have working in hopes of discovering a solo block. I can maintain my Bitaxe working 24/7 if I wish to, because it solely requires a 5-volt energy wire plugged into a traditional electrical socket to function. I’ve bought it arrange proper right here on my desk subsequent to my monitor.
Odds of me discovering a block based mostly on my present hashrate
Along with a brand new Coldcard Q I simply bought, I couldn’t cease excited about how cool it might be to win a solo block mining with this and have that BTC reward despatched to a model new bitcoin pockets.
This may imply there is no such thing as a public report of me receiving both the Bitaxe or Coldcard (aside from this text), and I’d have some candy KYC-free Bitcoin.
This text is a Take. Opinions expressed are completely the writer’s and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
