In a stunning upset against long odds, a solo Bitcoin miner successfully solved block 899,826 on June 5, earning $330,386 in block rewards and transaction fees—despite mining on a network operating at its highest difficulty level ever.
The block, confirmed at 3:48 a.m. UTC, included 3,680 transactions. The miner, working through the Solo CK pool, received the standard 3.125 BTC block subsidy along with approximately 0.026 BTC in fees. According to mempool.space, average transaction fees for this block hovered around $0.29, with a median rate of 2 satoshis per virtual byte, indicating low network congestion at the time.
What made the win especially noteworthy was a dramatic, short-lived spike in the miner’s hashrate. Con Kolivas, software engineer and admin of the CKPool, revealed via X that the miner’s device suddenly ramped up to 259 petahashes per second (PH/s)—an extraordinarily high figure for a solo miner. With only a single worker ID linked to the activity, Kolivas concluded the miner had likely rented the hashrate temporarily via a cloud or mining marketplace in a bold, high-risk strategy akin to buying a digital “lottery ticket.”
Records show the same miner had previously connected to the pool with much lower hashrate levels, further supporting the theory of a strategic, short-term burst to maximize chances of winning a block.
Bitcoin Mining Hits Record Difficulty, Solo Wins Grow Rarer
Bitcoin’s network difficulty reached a new all-time high of 126.98 trillion on June 1, according to Blockchain.com, reflecting surging competition among miners and a corresponding boost in network security.
This automatic adjustment occurs every 2,016 blocks and ensures that block times remain near the 10-minute target. As more powerful rigs come online and join the network, the system recalibrates to increase difficulty—making it harder for any single miner to solve a block.
The spike in difficulty underscores Bitcoin mining’s increasing industrialization, where large-scale operations dominate with massive computing fleets and high-efficiency machines. For solo miners, competing under these conditions is increasingly improbable without significant investment or creative tactics like temporary hashrate rental.
That’s why each solo win, like the June 5 event, stands out as a rare anomaly—a statistical victory that rewards bold risk-taking and underscores the small but real chance for individuals to beat the odds.
Surge in Solo Mining Wins Defies the Odds in 2025
Despite rising network difficulty and the consolidation of mining power among industrial players, 2025 has surprisingly delivered several solo miner victories—each one bucking the trend and drawing headlines.
The June 5 win wasn’t an isolated case. On March 10, a solo miner with a modest, cost-effective setup successfully mined block 887,212 and took home 3.15 BTC, worth approximately $263,000 at the time.
A month earlier, on February 10, another solo operator struck gold by solving block 883,181, earning the same 3.15 BTC, then valued at over $300,000. That block included 3,071 transactions, reflecting standard activity on the Bitcoin network.
These rare victories continue to energize the solo mining community—offering hope that, even in an increasingly professionalized industry, luck, timing, and clever strategy can still pay off.
Quick Facts
- A solo miner earned $330K by solving block 899,826 on June 5.
- Mining difficulty reached a record 126.98T just days prior.
- The miner reportedly used 259 PH/s of rented hashrate.
- Other solo wins this year occurred on Feb 10 and Mar 10.
- CKPool remains the go-to hub for high-risk solo mining plays.
