Solo Bitcoin Miners Keep Pocketing Full Block Rewards in 2026: Here’s How
Solo bitcoin miners running desktop-sized hardware are still finding full blocks in 2026, and the data from several active solo mining pools makes clear this is no longer a fluke.
Key Takeaways
- CKPool Solo has facilitated at least 40 verified bitcoin block wins since mid-2023, including three in early 2026.
- Public Pool on Umbrel confirmed seven solo bitcoin block wins, with the most recent at block height 948146 on May 6, 2026.
- Futurebit Apollo miners logged three solo block wins since October 2024, each paying out 3.125 BTC plus fees.
A Recent Solo Win Puts the Spotlight Back on Home Mining
A solo miner hit a bitcoin block recently, collecting the full 3.125 BTC subsidy plus transaction fees, a total payout that regularly lands between $200,000 and $300,000 at current prices. The winner kept every satoshi. No pool split. No proportional share. Just a direct payout to their own bitcoin address.
That outcome is the entire appeal of solo mining, and it is happening with devices small enough to sit on a desk.
The Pools Making It Possible
Several services act as Stratum proxies that let small miners participate in solo block attempts without running a full Bitcoin node around the clock. Block data pulled from each pool’s Coinbase tags on mempool.space shows verified wins across a handful of services.
CKPool Solo (solo.ckpool.org) has the longest track record and the most documented wins. Block data shows at least 40 solo blocks found through CKPool going back to mid-2023, with recent finds at heights 951408 (May 28, 2026), 944306 (April 9, 2026), and 943411 (April 2, 2026). The pool charges a 2% fee on block rewards and requires no node from the miner. Regional Stratum endpoints serve Europe, Singapore, and Australia alongside the main server.
Public Pool (public-pool.io) carries zero fees and is fully open-source, with miners frequently running it through Umbrel home nodes. The Coinbase tag data shows 7 blocks confirmed through Public Pool on Umbrel, with the most recent at height 948146 on May 6, 2026, and earlier finds at heights 947073, 943466, 937218, 928985, 920440, and 888989 dating back to March 2025.
Braiins Solo (solo.stratum.braiins.com) has logged 3 confirmed solo blocks: height 951771 (May 30, 2026), 947128 (April 29, 2026), and 938092 (February 24, 2026). Braiins is the longest-operating Bitcoin pool operator and the team behind Braiins OS, giving this option institutional credibility with a straightforward setup.
Parasite Pool (parasite.space), a hybrid “plebs eat first” service launched around 2025, has found 2 blocks: height 945601 (April 18, 2026) and 938713 (February 28, 2026). Coinbase tags confirm the pool identity. Unlike true solo pools, Parasite distributes some regular payouts to contributing miners, making it a middle ground between pure lottery and steady accumulation.
Futurebit Solo, tied to the Apollo hardware line, shows 3 confirmed blocks in Coinbase tag data: height 888737 (March 21, 2025), 867760 (October 28, 2024), and a third attributed to the 256 Foundation at height 881423 (January 29, 2025). These blocks carry tags identifying the Apollo hardware and the Solo FutureBit mining identity.
Some of the Hardware Behind the Wins
The machines doing this work are compact, quiet, and built for home or office use.
The Bitaxe Gamma 601 is an open-source option. It runs a single BM1370 chip at around 1.2 TH/s, draws roughly 17 watts, and retails between $89 and $150. The AxeOS firmware is community-maintained and updates frequently. Multiple Bitaxe units can be stacked to multiply lottery tickets while keeping power draw manageable.
The Canaan Avalon Nano 3S delivers 6 TH/s at 140 watts in a plug-and-play form factor priced around $249 to $299. It doubles as a small space heater and requires no technical setup beyond a WiFi connection and a bitcoin address.
The Futurebit Apollo III is a more expensive option. It produces 10 to 12 TH/s in Eco mode with a full Bitcoin node built in, allowing true sovereign solo mining without any external pool proxy. It starts at around $899 and was launched in early 2026.
Of course, solo miners can also put legacy bitcoin mining machines to work, including older models from manufacturers such as Bitmain, Canaan, MicroBT, and others. Built by leading application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) producers, these veteran units still deliver meaningful hashrate, making them a viable option for home-based mining enthusiasts.
Old miners, and even the newer compact models mentioned above, can be found on secondary markets and auction sites like Ebay.
What This Means for the Network
With Bitcoin’s network hashrate above 900 EH/s, a solo win from a low TH/s device is a genuinely low-probability event. But the data shows it keeps happening, once in a while. CKPool alone has facilitated more than 40 solo block finds across a span of roughly three years. Across all five pools, our news desk tracked since June 9, 2023, the total count runs well above 50 confirmed solo wins.
Each find represents a home miner walking away with a six-figure payout. Each also represents a block produced outside the industrial mining ecosystem, which matters to those who view decentralization as part of bitcoin’s value.
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