In a remarkable turn of events, a Bitcoin mining device with a hashrate of just 500 gigahashes per second (Gh/s) managed to successfully mine a block on July 24. This accomplishment is truly extraordinary considering that the odds of such a device mining a block approximately every ten minutes are as low as 1 in 1.1 billion. The device, known as “Bitaxe,” is manufactured by D-Central Technologies and is compact, measuring around the size of a human hand, as demonstrated by the YouTube channel “How Much?”
The fortunate miner who operated the Bitaxe device earned a handsome reward of $206,000 in Bitcoin for mining block number 853742 on July 24 at 11:43 am UTC. The total value of the block was 2,652.36 BTC, equivalent to $176,896,079, with the average transaction being 0.6093 BTC worth $40,636.53. Additionally, the node infrastructure service Solo CKPool, to which the Bitaxe was connected, received a total reward of 3.13 BTC amounting to $208,751, which included transaction fees from 4,353 transactions.
A Glimpse into Bitcoin Mining
To provide some context, the current total hash power of the Bitcoin network is an impressive 551.30 exahashes per second (Eh/s), which is a staggering 551,303,337,631,415,300,000 H/s. This immense hash power is around 1.1 billion times greater than that of the Bitaxe device. Hence, the device’s chances of successfully mining a block every ten minutes were an astronomical 1 in 1.1 billion.
Bitcoin mining is famously energy-intensive, with miners bearing substantial electricity costs regardless of their success in mining blocks. Solo Bitcoin mining, in particular, is akin to participating in a high-stakes lottery. The financial risks associated with mining are significant, making it a gamble for many. However, in the case of this fortunate solo miner who operated the Bitaxe device, the risk paid off handsomely with a substantial reward.
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