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Two solo bitcoin miners hit rare $300,000 jackpots in the same week
Two independent miners mined full blocks and collected roughly 3.15 BTC each, an uncommon outcome in a network dominated by large pools.
Jan 17, 2026, 10:33 a.m.
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What to know:
- Two solo bitcoin miners each earned a full block reward of approximately $300,000 this week, highlighting the rare success of individual mining efforts.
- Most miners join large pools to stabilize earnings, but solo miners face long odds and receive full rewards when successful.
- The recent solo wins occur amid shifting mining dynamics, with U.S. dominance softening and other regions gaining share.
Two solo bitcoin miners independently mined blocks this week with each collecting a full block reward worth roughly $300,000, a reminder that a small operator can still get lucky in today’s pool-dominated mining market.
One miner mined a block early Thursday and earned a 3.157 BTC payout including fees, while another solo win earlier in the week produced a similar reward near $295,000, based on public block data and mempool trackers.
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That outcome is rare because most miners don’t mine alone. They join large pools — or groups that combine comput
Solo miners, by contrast, face long odds, but when they do find a block, they receive the full subsidy and fees.
Mempool data shows the bulk of blocks are produced by a handful of pools, including Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool, leaving limited room for smaller operators to win blocks consistently.
Still, bitcoin mining is ultimately probabilistic, as more computing power improves your chances, but it doesn’t guarantee the next block.
The back-to-back solo wins also arrive as U.S. mining dominance appears to be softening. Some listed miners have pivoted capacity toward AI and high-performance computing, while other regions (including China-linked pools) have regained share, according to recent industry tracking.
CoinDesk highlighted a similar outlier in November, when a hobbyist miner using an older machine mined a full block despite extremely low odds, indicative of how unusual — and attention-grabbing — solo wins have become as hashrate climbs.
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