Key Takeaways
- Another solo bitcoin miner has pulled off a feat that defies expectations.
- The mathematics behind this unlikely victory tell a fascinating story.
- Bitcoin’s smallest miners are giving the industry’s giants something to think about.
How Did a Miner With Just 161 TH/s Beat the Odds?
Solo bitcoin miners have been making a mockery of the odds this year, turning what many consider a computational lottery into a series of improbable victories, with a fresh drawing roughly every 10 minutes, or approximately 52,560 chances annually.
On Nov. 11, 2026, the operator of CKPool Solo announced that another fortunate miner, wielding a modest 161 terahash per second (TH/s) of computing power, had beaten the odds and claimed the jackpot.
CKPool Solo’s maintainer wrote on X:
“Congratulations to miner bc1q~g4m7 for solving the 321st block—yet another super lucky one at CKPool Solo with ~161TH of hashrate on a 161TH worker! A miner of this size has about a one in 126 chance of solving a block in a year.”
Bitcoin Mining’s Lottery Offers Better Odds Than Powerball
The mathematics paint a fascinating picture, as mining behemoths such as Foundry and Antpool capture the overwhelming majority of blocks, yet independent miners still hold a ticket in every 10-minute lottery—with 161 TH/s of computing power translating into approximately a 1-in-126 chance of discovering a block over 12 months. For perspective, the odds of claiming the Mega Millions jackpot stand at 1 in 290,472,336, while Powerball presents an even steeper challenge at approximately 1 in 292.2 million.
That gives this particular miner roughly 44 times better odds in a single 10-minute contest than someone holding one Powerball ticket. Extend the comparison across an entire year, and a person purchasing a Powerball ticket for all three weekly drawings faces approximately 1-in-1.9-million odds, making the miner’s 1-in-126 probability nearly 15,000 times more favorable. The catch, naturally, lies in the size of the windfall.
At current bitcoin prices, a successfully mined block delivers 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees, placing the reward near $230,000 with bitcoin trading just above $73,500. It is certainly enough to transform someone’s finances, even if the payout falls considerably short of a nine-figure lottery fortune.
Are Solo Bitcoin Miners Proving the Skeptics Wrong?
Still, solo miners continue to steal the spotlight. Just days ago, shortly after Bitcoin.com News documented 36 independently mined blocks this year, that same evening, another fortunate CKPool Solo participant added block 974930 to the growing tally.
That brings the year’s total to 38 blocks discovered by solo miners since January 2026, an impressive testament to the persistence of independent operators. The allure of solo mining has increasingly captivated cryptocurrency enthusiasts, with new mining pools and miniature application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices seemingly emerging from every corner of the industry.
Each new block discovered by a solo miner only deepens that fascination, challenging the long-standing narrative that home mining and independent bitcoin mining have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
