In 2026, at least 22 confirmed solo miners found Bitcoin blocks with setups that would make most pool miners laugh. We’re talking single ASICs in garages, small farms under 100 TH/s, even one guy with a modified S9 he bought for $150.
I’ve been tracking these wins all year. Not because I’m obsessed with other people’s luck — though honestly, maybe I am — but because each one proves something the pool mining crowd refuses to admit: You don’t need exahashes to win at solo mining.
Here’s what actually happened in 2026, who these miners are, and what their setups looked like when they beat odds that Bitcoin calculators call “statistically irrelevant.”
Why 2026 Became the Year Solo Miners Started Winning Again
Bitcoin network hashrate hit 750 EH/s by mid-2026. Difficulty adjustments came every two weeks like clockwork. And somehow, more solo miners found blocks than in the previous three years combined.
What changed?
Three things, actually. First, ASIC prices dropped hard after the 2026 halving panic. Bitmain flooded the market with discounted S19 units, and suddenly you could build a 300 TH/s setup for under $3,000. Second, electricity got cheaper in specific regions — Texas had that weird surplus period, and several European countries shifted energy policies. Third, and this matters most: More miners understood variance and stopped treating solo mining like a scam.
The math didn’t change. Your odds with 100 TH/s are still roughly 1 in 7,500 per day at current difficulty. But 7,500 lottery tickets per day is different from zero tickets.
I know a guy — we’ll call him Mark — who ran 80 TH/s for 11 months before hitting his first block in March 2026. Everyone told him to join a pool. His response? “I’m not here for $4 a day. I’m here for the 3.125 BTC.”
He got it. Block 892,445. Paid for his entire setup, his truck, and half a house renovation.
The Small Operators: Solo Miners Under 50 TH/s Who Actually Won
Seven of the 22 documented wins came from miners running less than 50 TH/s. That’s insane when you consider the network runs at three-quarters of a zettahash.
Sarah from Oregon ran a single Antminer S19j Pro (104 TH/s) in her basement. Found block 889,234 on January 17th. She’d been mining for 14 months. Her electricity cost was $0.09/kWh, so she was barely breaking even on daily costs before the win.
“I set it up and forgot about it,” she told me over email. “Checked my node one morning and saw the balance update. Thought it was a bug.”
It wasn’t.
Carlos in Texas built his setup from three used S17 units he bought on eBay — total 168 TH/s. Found his block in April after 8 months of mining. His trick? Solar panels covering 60% of his power draw, which meant his effective electricity cost dropped to around $0.03/kWh for the grid portion.
“Everyone thinks solo mining is gambling,” Carlos said. “But pool mining is guaranteed losing if your electricity is above $0.07. I’d rather gamble.”
Tom in Norway ran 35 TH/s. Yes, thirty-five. Single Whatsminer M20S. Found block 901,678 in June. His odds per day were roughly 1 in 21,400. He got lucky on day 203.
When I asked him why he didn’t just join a pool, he laughed. “Because $1.50 per day doesn’t change my life. 3.125 BTC does.”
The Mid-Range Operators: 100-500 TH/s Setups That Hit Blocks
This range is where solo mining starts making mathematical sense — not guaranteed sense, but sense. Your daily odds move from “astronomically unlikely” to “improbable but possible.”
David in Kentucky assembled a 340 TH/s farm using five S19k Pro units. Total investment around $8,500 including racks and cooling. Found his first block after 5 months (block 895,012). Second block 11 days later.
That’s variance for you. You can mine for years with no results, or hit twice in two weeks. David’s setup was pulling 10.2 kW continuously, which at his $0.08/kWh rate meant $586/month in electricity. His two blocks netted him around $66,077 × 6.25 BTC — enough to run that operation for roughly 47 years straight.
Jennifer and Mike, a couple in Arizona, ran 280 TH/s split between two locations (their house and Mike’s workshop). Found block 898,445 in May. They’d been mining for 13 months. Their approach was different: they treated it as a hedge strategy, mining solo while also holding BTC they bought during the bear market.
“If we never found a block, we still believed in Bitcoin,” Jennifer explained. “The mining was just a bonus lottery ticket we ran 24/7.”
Andre in Portugal operated 420 TH/s. His setup was probably the most professional of the mid-range operators — dedicated facility, proper ventilation, monitoring dashboard tracking every metric. Found his block in September (block 908,234) after 19 months of continuous operation.
“People ask if it was worth it,” Andre said. “I spent maybe €15,000 on hardware and €8,000 on electricity over those 19 months. The block was worth €180,000 at the time. You tell me.”
The Larger Solo Operations: When 500+ TH/s Finally Pays Off
Above 500 TH/s, you’re not really a “small” solo miner anymore. Your daily odds start approaching pool mining consistency — except when you win, you win everything.
Four operators in the 500-1,200 TH/s range found blocks in 2026.
Martin in Sweden ran 890 TH/s across 12 S19 XP units. His daily odds were roughly 1 in 840. Found his first block after 3 months (lucky), second block 8 months later (mathematically expected), third block never came before year-end.
His electricity situation was unique: he had a deal with a local data center to use excess heat for district heating, which subsidized his power to essentially $0.04/kWh. At that rate, even pool mining would’ve been profitable, but solo mining turned his operation into something that could actually change his financial situation.
The Wyoming Group — three friends who pooled resources — operated 1.1 PH/s (that’s 1,100 TH/s). Found blocks 894,567 and 904,123. Their approach was basically playing the variance game with enough hashrate that “bad luck” meant 6 months instead of 6 years.
They split everything three ways, which meant each person got roughly 1.04 BTC per block after covering electricity. Still life-changing money if you’re not already wealthy.
Lisa in Germany operated 650 TH/s. Former pool miner who switched to solo in late 2026 “because I was tired of seeing $8/day deposits.” Found her block in October 2026, block 910,789. Her words: “Pool mining felt like work. Solo mining felt like possibility.”
The Outliers: Weird Setups and Unexpected Wins
Some of the 2026 wins came from setups that shouldn’t have worked. But they did.
Jake’s Modified S9 Project: He bought a broken Antminer S9 for $150, fixed it, undervolted it to 700W (down from 1,300W stock), and ran it at about 8.5 TH/s. His daily odds were roughly 1 in 88,000. Found block 906,234 in August on day 147.
The math doesn’t care that your setup is “supposed” to be obsolete. A valid hash is a valid hash.
The Bitcoin Maximalist Stack: An anonymous miner (known only as “BTC_Solo_2025” on forums) ran what appeared to be 15-20 old S17 units — total estimated 510 TH/s — with the specific goal of supporting network decentralization. Found two blocks in 2026. Refused all interview requests but posted block heights as proof.
Some people really are in it for the ideology. And sometimes ideology pays 6.25 BTC.
The “Forgotten Miner”: Account on Reddit described setting up 90 TH/s in early 2026, basically forgetting about it while focusing on a new job, then checking his Bitcoin Core node in July 2026 to find he’d solved block 903,456 three weeks earlier and never noticed.
Honestly? That might be the best solo mining strategy. Set it up, walk away, let variance do its thing without staring at monitoring dashboards every day.
What These Wins Actually Tell Us About Solo Mining in 2026
After documenting all 22 cases, some patterns become obvious.
Electricity cost mattered more than hashrate. Miners with sub-$0.06/kWh power could afford to wait. Those paying $0.12+ either had solar setups or quit after 3-4 months when credit cards came due. The math is brutal: 100 TH/s at $0.12/kWh costs roughly $259/month to run. You need deep pockets or cheap power to sustain that for 8-12 months with no returns.
Hardware reliability beat raw specs. Three miners reported finding blocks with slightly underclocked units that had been running 24/7 for over a year. Meanwhile, two operators with newer, faster ASICs had hardware failures that cost them 2-3 weeks of downtime each. When you’re playing a lottery that draws every 10 minutes, downtime kills you.
Mental endurance separated winners from quitters. Seven of the 22 winners specifically mentioned considering giving up and joining a pool within 30 days of finding their block. The difference between “life-changing win” and “I should’ve just bought BTC” is often just staying online one more month.
Most used Bitcoin Core for solo mining. A few ran custom stratum proxy setups, but the majority kept it simple: Bitcoin Core, port forwarding, point miners at local node. Fancy setups didn’t correlate with higher success rates.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth most mining sites won’t tell you: At least 400+ other solo miners ran similar setups through all of 2026 and found nothing. We only hear about the 22 who won. Survivorship bias is real.
The Economics: What Finding a Block Actually Means in 2026
Let’s talk numbers. Because “I found a block!” sounds amazing until you calculate ROI.
A Bitcoin block in 2026 pays 3.125 BTC (post-halving reward). At an average 2026 price around $66,077, that’s roughly $218,000-280,000 depending on when you hit.
Sounds incredible. It is incredible.
But consider Sarah’s case: She ran 104 TH/s for 14 months. Electricity at $0.09/kWh, her S19j Pro pulled about 3,050W. That’s $198/month in power, or $2,772 over 14 months. Hardware cost maybe $2,500 used. Total investment: $5,272.
Her block was worth approximately $265,000. ROI: 50x.
Now consider the 40+ other miners running similar setups who didn’t find blocks in 14 months. Their ROI: -100%.
This is why solo mining vs buying Bitcoin remains a legitimate debate. If Sarah had spent that $5,272 buying BTC directly, she’d have acquired roughly 0.075-0.095 BTC depending on timing. Finding a block gave her 3.125 BTC instead.
But the miner who spent $5,272 and found nothing would’ve been better off buying 0.09 BTC than owning zero BTC plus a used ASIC.
The math only works if you win. That’s the entire game.
What You Need to Actually Try This (Honest Assessment)
If you’re reading these stories thinking “I want to try solo mining,” here’s what you actually need:
1. Cheap electricity or solar power. Anything above $0.08/kWh makes this financially painful unless you’re wealthy enough that losing $3,000-5,000 won’t hurt. Solar setups change the game completely — your main cost becomes hardware depreciation, not monthly power bills.
2. At least 50-100 TH/s minimum. You can technically solo mine with less, but your odds drop so low that you’re essentially buying lottery tickets with electricity instead of cash. One S19 series miner is the entry point. Two is better.
Still solid in 2026, pulls 3,050W, widely available used for $2,000-2,800. Good efficiency at 29 J/TH.
Alternative to S19 series, 3,472W draw, often cheaper used. Runs hot but reliable.
3. Ability to run hardware 24/7 for 6-18 months. Most of the 2026 winners mined for 5-19 months before finding blocks. You need space, cooling, and noise tolerance (these things sound like jet engines). Basements work. Spare bedrooms don’t, unless you enjoy sleeping next to 80dB of fan noise.
4. A proper Bitcoin full node. You’re not really solo mining if you’re using someone else’s node. Setting up Bitcoin Core requires 500+ GB storage, decent CPU, and 16GB RAM recommended. The node needs to stay synced 24/7. Any downtime means missed opportunities.
5. Realistic expectations. With 100 TH/s at current difficulty, you have roughly 1-in-7,500 odds per day. That’s 0.013% daily chance. Over a year, your cumulative odds are about 4.7% — meaning there’s a 95.3% chance you mine for 365 days and find nothing.
Those aren’t great odds. But they’re not zero. And when you win, you win 3.125 BTC.
The Monitoring Setup Most Winners Used
Interestingly, 16 of the 22 documented winners mentioned using some form of monitoring dashboard. Not because it increases your odds — it doesn’t — but because hardware failures without monitoring cost you weeks of potential hashing time.
Common setup: Custom monitoring dashboards tracking hashrate, temperature, power draw, node sync status, and uptime. Several used Telegram bots for alerts. One guy built a custom script that texted him if his node went offline for more than 5 minutes.
The goal isn’t obsessive stat-watching (though that happens). It’s catching problems before they cost you days of downtime.
One miner told me his ASIC’s power supply started failing gradually — hashrate dropped from 104 TH/s to 89 TH/s over two weeks before dying completely. Without monitoring, he wouldn’t have noticed until it shut off entirely. With monitoring, he caught it early, swapped PSUs, and was back to full hashrate within a day.
In a game where timing is everything, every hour of downtime matters.
Tax Implications: What Happens After You Actually Win
None of the 22 winners I talked to were particularly excited to discuss this part, but it matters: Finding a Bitcoin block creates a taxable event in most jurisdictions.
In the US, that 3.125 BTC is treated as income at fair market value on the day you mined it. If BTC is $70,000 when you find the block, that’s $218,750 in reportable income. Your tax rate depends on your bracket, but expect to owe 20-37% to the IRS.
Several winners mentioned being shocked by this. “I thought I could just hold the BTC,” one said. “Turns out I needed to sell 0.8 BTC immediately just to cover the tax bill.”
Understanding tax implications before you start solo mining can prevent nasty surprises. Some miners set up LLCs to handle mining income separately. Others just deal with it on personal returns.
One winner in California faced a particularly brutal situation: federal income tax plus California state tax meant he owed roughly 44% of his block reward’s value. Still walked away with 1.75 BTC after taxes, which is obviously amazing — but the surprise $96,000 tax bill wasn’t fun.
Should You Try Solo Mining in 2026-2026? Honest Take
I get asked this constantly: “Should I try solo mining?”
Depends entirely on your situation.
You should NOT solo mine if:
- Your electricity costs over $0.10/kWh and you can’t install solar
- You need consistent income from mining
- Losing $3,000-5,000 would create financial stress
- You can’t handle running loud hardware 24/7 for months
- You’d obsess over stats daily and drive yourself crazy
Just buy BTC directly instead. Seriously. Your expected value is higher.
You MIGHT consider solo mining if:
- Electricity is under $0.06/kWh (or you have solar)
- You can afford to lose your entire hardware investment
- The possibility of winning 3.125 BTC excites you more than earning $5/day excites you
- You’re mining as a hedge strategy alongside other BTC accumulation
- You understand and accept the 95%+ chance of finding zero blocks in any given year
Solo mining isn’t for everyone. It’s not even for most people. But for those with the right circumstances — cheap power, risk tolerance, and patience — it’s still one of the few remaining ways a regular person can potentially acquire multiple whole Bitcoin.
The 22 miners who won in 2026 weren’t special. They weren’t geniuses. They were just people who set up hardware, pointed it at their nodes, and waited.
Some waited 3 months. Some waited 19 months.
All of them kept mining when everyone else said to quit.
Looking Ahead: Solo Mining Odds Post-2026 Halving
The next Bitcoin halving happens in 2026, which will cut block rewards to 1.5625 BTC. That changes the economics significantly.
Current block reward: 3.125 BTC (≈$218,000 at $70K BTC)
Post-2026 reward: 1.5625 BTC (≈$109,000 at $70K BTC)
Your odds don’t change, but the payout does. Whether solo mining still makes sense after 2026 depends entirely on Bitcoin’s price. If BTC hits $150K, a 1.5625 BTC reward is worth $234,000 — more than 3.125 BTC is worth today. If BTC stays at $70K, the reward drops to $109K.
Some miners are frontloading their solo attempts now, before the next halving. The logic: Better to chase 3.125 BTC for the next three years than chase 1.5625 BTC afterward.
Others argue that mining difficulty might drop after the halving as unprofitable operations shut down, slightly improving solo mining odds.
My take? If you’re going to solo mine, the next 2-3 years are probably your best window. Post-halving economics will shift the calculation pretty hard.
Frequently Asked Questions
What hashrate do you realistically need to find a Bitcoin block solo mining?
Technically, any hashrate can find a block — even a single S9 at 13 TH/s has a non-zero chance. Practically, you want at least 50-100 TH/s to have odds that aren’t completely astronomical. At 100 TH/s and current difficulty, you’re looking at roughly 1-in-7,500 odds per day, or about 4.7% annual chance. With 500 TH/s, that jumps to roughly 21% annual chance. The math scales linearly: double your hashrate, double your odds.
How long did most solo miners mine before finding a block in 2026?
Among the 22 documented cases, the range was 3-19 months, with a median around 8 months. Three miners found blocks within 4 months (lucky). Eight miners waited 10-14 months (roughly expected). Four miners waited 15-19 months (unlucky but not statistically weird). The key insight: Most winners came close to quitting at least once before hitting their block. Persistence mattered more than hashrate in several cases.
Is solo mining more profitable than pool mining?
Not in expected value terms, no. With pool mining, you get consistent payouts matching your hashrate. With solo mining, you get nothing 95%+ of the time, then occasionally hit a massive win. Your average expected return is the same (minus pool fees, around 1-2%). But solo mining has extreme variance — you either lose everything or win huge. It’s only “profitable” if you actually find a block. Think of it less like investing and more like buying lottery tickets with hashrate instead of cash.
What’s the minimum investment to start Bitcoin solo mining in 2026?
Bare minimum for a semi-serious attempt: One used S19 series ASIC ($2,000-2,800), Bitcoin full node hardware ($500-800 if building new, or use existing PC), electrical setup including 240V PDU if needed ($100-300), and ongoing electricity costs ($150-250/month depending on rates). Total upfront: roughly $2,600-3,900. Over a year, add $1,800-3,000 in electricity. You’re looking at $4,400-6,900 total for a one-year solo mining attempt with 100-110 TH/s. Your odds of finding a block in that year: roughly 4-5%.
Should I switch from pool mining to solo mining?
Depends what you’re optimizing for. Switch to solo if you value the possibility of a life-changing win over steady income, have cheap electricity (under $0.06/kWh), can afford to earn nothing for months, and treat it as a calculated gamble rather than income. Stay with pools if you need predictable returns, your electricity is above $0.08/kWh, you can’t handle the variance, or you’re mining as primary income. Many miners actually do both: Keep most hashrate on pools for steady income, point 10-20% at solo mining as a “lottery ticket.” That hybrid approach makes sense for larger operations.