Solo Mining Bitcoin: A Beginner’s Guide for Aspiring Miners
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Bitcoin solo mining has become a modern-day lottery where you can “win” bitcoin while contributing to securing the network. The odds of winning the Bitcoin block reward are minuscule, but getting started and running your own solo mining operation is easier than you might think.
In this guide, you’ll learn what solo mining is, how you can get started, how it differs from pool mining, and how to choose which option is better for you.
In this article:
What Is Solo Mining?
Solo mining is a method to mine bitcoin on your own without participating in a traditional mining pool. If you’re lucky, you’ll win the block reward (currently sitting at 3.125 BTC) plus transaction fees included in the block you found.
Essentially, whether you’re a solo miner depends on whether you connect your mining hardware to a pool. You can also use both methods and dedicate some of your equipment for solo mining while others can be connected to a mining pool.
Solo mining operations can also be different in size, from small devices, quietly running on your desk, to larger rigs, tightly packed in a container outside your house. In this guide, we’ll focus more on the concept of solo mining with cheap devices you can comfortably run at home.
In 2024, Bitcoin solo miners, including those running desktop-fitting cheap hardware, found 17 blocks and collected rewards and transaction fees, compared with 13 blocks in 2023. A year earlier, in 2022, solo miners won only 7 blocks.
Despite this strong growth in percentages, these numbers illustrate how low the odds of finding a block are, considering that this year, thousands of Bitcoin miners will collectively compete for around 52,560 blocks.
An example of a Bitcoin block, found by a solo miner. Source: mempool.space
Meanwhile, an increasing number of solo mining solutions are already available for you to start mining at home and begin competing with Bitcoin mining giants.
Is Solo Bitcoin Mining Still Profitable?
The profitability of bitcoin solo mining depends on two things: whether you’re lucky enough to find a Bitcoin block and whether your costs are lower than the reward you win.
If you’re not building a mining setup worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that’s also very costly to operate, you’re likely to be in profit, given the price of BTC doesn’t drop much, and you actually find a block.
Otherwise, especially when using less powerful hardware, there is a high chance you’ll never find a block, but you’ll still need to pay for hardware, electricity, and maintenance, which means you operate at a loss. However, since running a home solo Bitcoin mining operation is relatively cheap, the fun of doing this might be rewarding in itself.
In either case, as with the big industrial miners, your chances of winning a block will be affected by things such as the Bitcoin mining difficulty, which determines how hard it is to find a block at a given time period. Also, your hardware parameters, such as hashrate (the computational power of your equipment) and efficiency, will affect your costs and your chances of winning.
There are various calculators, such as this one, to help you better understand your chances of winning.
Image source: solochance.com
How to Set Up a Solo Bitcoin Mining Operation
There are a few things to consider before starting, such as how powerful your mining setup is going to be, and do you want to buy pre-built hardware or build it yourself. Also, consider higher electricity bills and additional heat and noise, which, however, is still fairly low for small setups.
For the purpose of this article, let’s say you want to run a cheap, super simple setup worth a few hundred dollars. Here’s what you should know.
Hardware & Software for Solo Mining
No matter whether you're building your own hardware or buying a pre-built miner, they'll have the same key components: ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) and PCB (printed circuit board), and extra hardware, that will depend on your design, such as a heatsink, fan, power supply, a display, thermal compound to use it between the heatsink and ASIC, and a stand to put it all together.
Additionally, your hardware won’t run without firmware, while you'll also need software to connect your device to the Bitcoin network. There are different options to choose from, and you can find various suggestions for different setups from the open-source solo mining project Bitaxe.
Alternatively, you can buy an already preassembled miner or several of them, including various models from Bitaxe. However, you can choose from multiple other options, such as Braiins Mini Miner BMM 101, Mars Lander, and others. Also, for the same few hundred dollars, you can buy a refurbished legendary Bitmain Antminer S9, which will offer much higher hashrate, however, it'll also be more costly and noisy to run.
For most who want to get started, a pre-built solution is probably the easiest solution, while custom-built hardware will give you more flexibility and the joy of experimenting.
How to Start Bitcoin Solo Mining, Step by Step
Getting started with solo mining isn’t as complicated as you might think, especially if you’re buying pre-assembled hardware. However, the whole setup process and steps before you can start mining will also depend on the model you’ve got.
Let’s say you’ve decided to begin your solo miner journey with a pre-assembled Bitaxe. Here’s how you can start mining with this device step by step.
Assemble your miner
While you’ve got the pre-assembled version, you’ll likely still need to attach the stand that comes with your setup to the miner; therefore, make sure you have a screwdriver, while screws are likely to be included in the box.
Connect your phone or computer
After plugging in power supply into your Bitaxe, it'll create a wireless network. Find it on your phone or computer, depending on which device you want to manage your miner, and connect to the Bitaxe wireless network.
Set your settings
Next, after connecting to Bitaxe via wireless, you should see a new screen with various settings. Here, you'll need to enter your WiFi Service Set Identifier, WiFi password, and User (your BTC wallet address).
If you're new to mining, you can leave fields such as 'Frequency' and 'Core voltage' with their default values. Also, on the same screen, you'll need to add the pool/server you want to mine on. Often, solo miners are still using dedicated platforms that help in mining solo blocks, such as CKPool, as it helps to avoid the additional costs of running a full Bitcoin node. However, this service will cost you a 2% fee, provided you find a block.
Start mining
Once all settings are set, click 'Save' and 'Restart.' After it's done, you'll just need to enter Bitaxe’s new IP address into your device, and that's it, you're now a Bitcoin solo miner.
Good luck!
Solo Mining vs. Pooled Mining: What’s the Better Option?
While both options are a great way to get started with Bitcoin mining, there are a few things to consider to determine which option is better for you.
- Registration: When mining via a Bitcoin pool, you’ll need to register, which can be avoided with solo mining, helping to protect your privacy.
- Independence: If you solo mine, you’re more independent, as pools might encounter technical problems, change their fees, or policies.
- Fees: With solo mining, you can completely avoid extra fees related to pooled mining.
- Payouts: With pool mining, you can ensure a small yet constant payout for your contributions to the Bitcoin network. Meanwhile, solo mining is a pure lottery, as you can’t be guaranteed you’ll get any reward at all. But if you do succeed in finding a Bitcoin block, the whole reward (except fees if you’re using third parties that help to connect to the network), currently worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, is yours.
Therefore, if you want to be fully in control of your mining operations, get the whole block reward, protect your privacy, and don’t mind the lottery aspect, solo mining is a better option for you.
Meanwhile, if you aim for constant yet small rewards, pool mining might be a better way to mine bitcoin. However, you still need to evaluate the costs of running your hardware, as potential pool payouts might still be too small to cover it.
Get Expert Advice on Solo Mining from The Bitcoin Way
Solo mining can be an excellent way for you to get into the Bitcoin mining world. With a relatively small and cheap setup, you can learn more about mining, and, if you’re lucky, you will be rewarded with 3.125 BTC and transaction fees.
However, as this still comes with certain technicalities, especially if you want to build your own mining setup or make your existing setup more efficient, this might feel overwhelming. Moreover, there is so much more to consider in Bitcoin, from the best self-custody solutions to personal security issues. We at The Bitcoin Way are happy to help you with all these questions and find a solution that works best for you.
Get expert advice on solo mining —book a free 30-minute consultation with our experts today!
FAQs
Is solo mining still viable for Bitcoin?
Despite the fact that for most miners, Bitcoin solo mining isn’t viable, as the chance to find a block is very low, this type of mining is growing in popularity as a modern-day lottery. With hardware that can cost less than $400, you can win 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees. In either case, solo miners are still a tiny portion of the overall hashrate of the Bitcoin network.
How long until I mine my first block?
As Bitcoin solo mining is considered to be a lottery, there is no straight answer to this question. In theory, you can mine your first block on the same day you start mining, or it can never happen. Therefore, you should treat solo mining more as a game or lottery, rather than a predictable source of revenue.
Can I solo mine with a regular computer?
No, you can’t solo mine bitcoin with a regular computer. These devices are not specialized to run the hashing algorithms. To mine bitcoin, you would need to get an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) that are specifically designed to do one thing: mine bitcoin.
How long would it take to solo mine one bitcoin?
It’s impossible to answer how long it would take. Moreover, currently, lucky solo miners are rewarded with 3.125 BTC, meaning that, if you’re lucky, you’d get more than one bitcoin. However, it’s impossible to know when it might happen.
Is solo mining luck?
Yes, there is definitely a big component of luck that plays a critical role in solo mining. However, your chances of finding a Bitcoin block are also affected by how powerful your mining setup is and how many miners are competing for the reward. Therefore, your chances of winning are constantly changing as miners enter and leave the market.
Can you mine Bitcoin for free?
No, you can’t mine bitcoin for free unless you have access to free hardware and electricity. That said, you can buy solo mining hardware for a few hundred dollars and start mining at home. If you want to run a large Bitcoin mining business, the initial investment and operations costs will skyrocket.