Solo Mining Myths Debunked: 10 Misconceptions Exposed

Look, I need to be honest with you right from the start. When I told my dad I wanted to try solo mining, he literally laughed and said “You’ll never find a block in your lifetime.” That was about eight months ago. Since then, I’ve found three blocks on smaller coins, learned a ton about how this whole thing actually works, and realized that basically everything people say about solo mining is either outdated or just plain wrong.

The internet is full of people repeating the same old myths about solo mining. Some of them made sense back in 2015, but mining has changed. A lot. And honestly, some of these myths were never true to begin with — they’re just things that pool operators want you to believe so you don’t try mining on your own.

I’m Hugo, I’m 13, and I’ve been solo mining for almost a year now. I run a mix of GPU rigs and one small ASIC that I bought used. My electricity isn’t free (my parents make me pay part of the bill from my allowance), and I definitely don’t have a warehouse full of hardware. Just a regular kid with a gaming PC and too much curiosity about how cryptocurrency actually works.

What I wish I knew earlier: Half the advice online about solo mining is designed to discourage you. The other half is technically correct but missing crucial context. So let’s go through the biggest myths one by one, and I’ll tell you what’s actually true based on real experience.

Myth #1: “Solo Mining Is Impossible Without Massive Hashrate”

This is probably the biggest myth, and it’s only partially true. Yeah, solo mining Bitcoin with a single Antminer S9 is basically pointless — you’d be waiting centuries for a block. But Bitcoin isn’t the only mineable cryptocurrency. Not even close.

Real talk: There are dozens of coins where solo mining with modest hashrate actually makes sense. I found my first block on Neoxa with just two RTX 3060s. Took about three weeks, but it happened. The current Neoxa price is around $0.005653 (they trade similarly), and that block reward was worth about $45 at the time.

The key is picking coins where the network difficulty matches your hashrate. Don’t make my mistake: I spent my first month trying to solo mine Ethereum Classic and got absolutely nowhere. Then I switched to smaller coins and started finding blocks regularly.

Here’s what actually matters for solo mining success:

• Network hashrate relative to your own (aim for at least 0.01% of network power)
• Block time (coins with faster blocks give you more chances)
• Difficulty adjustment speed (you want predictable difficulty, not wild swings)
• Your patience level (this is honestly the hardest part)

I wrote a detailed analysis of solo mining success rates by hashrate that shows exactly what your odds are with different hardware setups. The math might surprise you — it surprised me.

Myth #2: “You Need to Run Your Own Full Node”

People love to say this, and it’s not exactly wrong, but it’s not exactly right either. Yes, running your own node is ideal. No, it’s not strictly necessary to start solo mining.

I started solo mining by pointing my miner at public solo pools. Places like solo.ckpool.org for Bitcoin or wattpool for various altcoins. These are different from regular pools — they don’t split rewards, you get the entire block if you find it (minus a small 0.5-2% fee). It’s a great way to test solo mining without the hassle of setting up a node.

That said, I eventually did set up my own nodes for the coins I mine regularly. Why? Because I got paranoid about solo pools potentially stealing blocks. Has it happened to me? No. Could it theoretically happen? Yeah. Plus, running your own node teaches you way more about how blockchain actually works.

For coins I regularly solo mine, I run full nodes:

• Ravencoin Core for KawPow mining
• Ergo node for Autolykos
• Flux full node setup

But when I’m testing a new coin? I absolutely use public solo pools first. It’s just smarter when you’re learning.

The whole “you must run a node” thing is often pushed by people who want to make solo mining sound harder than it actually is. Sure, it’s more secure and more educational, but it’s not a requirement for day one.

Myth #3: “Solo Mining Uses Way More Electricity Than Pool Mining”

This one makes zero sense once you think about it for like five seconds. Your mining hardware draws the same amount of power whether you’re pointed at a pool or mining solo. The actual mining process is identical — you’re still computing hashes at the same rate.

The confusion probably comes from people thinking about running a full node. Yes, a full node uses some electricity — my Ravencoin node uses maybe 15-20W constantly. But that’s nothing compared to the mining hardware itself.

My main GPU rig pulls about 850W from the wall when mining. The computer running the node? Maybe 50W total including the monitor. It’s basically a rounding error.

Where electricity costs actually matter in solo mining is the time factor. If you’re solo mining and going weeks without finding a block, you’re paying electricity the whole time with zero income. In a pool, you’d be getting small regular payouts. Same total electricity cost, just different cash flow.

I actually wrote a whole guide on optimizing solo mining electricity costs that covers the real ways to reduce power consumption. Spoiler: It’s all about undervolting and picking efficient hardware, not about pool vs solo.

Myth #4: “You’ll Never Find a Block — It’s All Just Luck”

Okay, this myth is weird because it’s technically correct but also completely misses the point. Yes, solo mining is probabilistic. Yes, there’s luck involved. But “it’s all luck” makes it sound like buying lottery tickets, and that’s just not accurate.

Real talk: Solo mining is luck, but it’s weighted luck. The more hashrate you have, the better your odds. It’s not like every miner has an equal chance — someone with 1 TH/s has 10x better odds than someone with 100 GH/s. The math is actually pretty straightforward.

I use the Ravencoin solo mining calculator all the time to figure out my actual odds. For example, with my current 180 MH/s on KawPow, I have about a 1.8% chance of finding a block per day on Ravencoin. That means statistically, I should find a block every 55 days or so.

Sometimes I find one in 20 days. Sometimes it takes 90 days. That’s the luck part. But over a year, it averages out pretty close to the expected value.

What people get wrong is thinking “luck” means “random chance with no skill involved.” Actually, solo mining rewards:

• Choosing coins with appropriate difficulty for your hashrate
• Optimizing your hardware for maximum efficiency
• Running stable, reliable mining software
• Understanding variance and not giving up too early

The miners who say “I tried solo mining for three days and found nothing” just don’t understand probability. That’s like flipping a coin twice and concluding coins are rigged because you didn’t get one heads and one tails.

Myth #5: “Solo Mining Is Only for Bitcoin Purists and Idealists”

This myth drives me crazy because it assumes solo miners are doing it for philosophical reasons instead of practical ones. Sure, there’s something cool about finding your own blocks and not relying on pool infrastructure. But honestly? I solo mine because it’s more profitable for my setup.

Let me break down the actual math. When I pool mine Ravencoin with my GPUs, I pay 1% pool fee and get steady daily payouts of about 25 RVN. When I solo mine, I pay 0% fee (own node) and find a block of 2,500 RVN every two months or so. Over a year, solo mining gives me about 8% more coins because I’m not paying pool fees.

Plus, there’s the payout threshold problem. Most pools have minimum payout amounts — often 10-100 coins depending on the network. If you’re mining with lower hashrate, it might take you days or weeks to hit that threshold. Your coins are just sitting in the pool’s wallet, earning them interest while you wait.

With solo mining, when you find a block, you get paid immediately to your own wallet. Full stop.

Don’t make my mistake: I started out thinking solo mining was about “being independent” and “supporting decentralization.” Those are nice side effects, but the real reason I do it is simple economics — I make more money this way for my hashrate level.

The comparison between solo mining vs NiceHash is particularly interesting. A lot of people assume NiceHash is always more profitable because you get paid in Bitcoin, but if you factor in the fees and price fluctuations, solo mining the right altcoins often wins.

Myth #6: “Old Hardware Can’t Solo Mine Profitably”

I literally started solo mining with an old GTX 1660 Super that I bought used for $120. It’s still running in one of my rigs right now. The idea that you need latest-gen hardware to solo mine is complete nonsense pushed by people selling new equipment.

What actually matters is efficiency and targeting the right algorithm. My 1660 Super gets about 27 MH/s on KawPow while drawing only 80W. That’s not amazing, but on a coin like Neoxa, it’s perfectly viable for solo mining.

I even tested whether the Antminer S9 can still find blocks in 2026. The answer is: not on Bitcoin (obviously), but on smaller SHA-256 coins, absolutely yes. I watched someone find a block on Peercoin with an S9. Took them four months, but the block reward was worth about $180, and their electricity costs were maybe $60 total. That’s still profit.

The real question isn’t “Is my hardware too old?” It’s “Which coin’s difficulty matches my hardware’s capabilities?”

For CPU mining, even older Ryzen processors can solo mine RandomX coins. I tested Monero solo mining on a Ryzen 9 9950X (okay, that’s not old hardware, but the principles apply). The same approach works with older Ryzen 5 chips on smaller RandomX coins like Zephyr.

Budget Solo Mining Hardware That Actually Works

Myth #7: “Solo Mining Requires Expert-Level Technical Knowledge”

I’m 13 and I figured this out from YouTube videos and Reddit guides. If I can do it, you can absolutely do it.

Yeah, solo mining is slightly more technical than just downloading NiceHash and clicking “start mining.” You need to understand how to configure mining software, possibly set up a node, and troubleshoot connection issues. But we’re not talking about rocket science here.

What I wish I knew earlier: The mining community makes solo mining sound way more complicated than it actually is. Most of the “advanced” stuff is just copying and pasting configuration files and running a few command-line commands.

For example, setting up GMiner for solo mining took me maybe 20 minutes the first time, including figuring out the syntax for the batch file. Now I can do it in under two minutes.

Setting up a Ravencoin full node? Download the wallet, let it sync overnight, change one line in the config file, restart. Done. Not exactly hacker-level complexity.

The hardest part honestly is understanding the statistics and knowing when to switch coins. But even that’s pretty manageable once you learn to use mining calculators and network explorers.

Most solo mining guides walk you through everything step-by-step. I’ve written several myself specifically because I remember how confusing it was at the beginning. The Phoenix Miner solo setup guide and the Kadena solo mining guide are both written for complete beginners.

Myth #8: “Solo Mining Always Pays Out Less Than Pool Mining”

This is one of those myths that’s true for large operations but completely backwards for small miners. Let me explain with actual numbers from my setup.

When you pool mine with low hashrate, you’re basically getting the worst deal possible. You pay pool fees (usually 1-2%), you have payout thresholds that lock up your coins, and you’re contributing to a system where the pool operator takes zero risk but gets guaranteed income from your work.

In my testing across different setups, I’ve found that solo mining becomes more profitable than pool mining when your hashrate represents at least 0.01% of the network and you can statistically find a block every 1-3 months. Below that threshold, yeah, pool mining makes more sense because the variance is too high.

I compared solo mining profitability across Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Kaspa and the results were eye-opening. For Bitcoin with an Antminer S19 XP, pool mining wins because solo mining would take years. But for Kaspa with an IceRiver KS5L, solo mining can actually be more profitable if you’re patient.

The break-even point depends on several factors:

• Pool fees (higher fees make solo mining more attractive)
• Your electricity costs (higher costs mean you need steadier income from pools)
• Network difficulty variance (stable difficulty favors solo mining)
• Your personal risk tolerance (can you handle 2 months without a payout?)

Real talk: I actually make about 15% more per year solo mining than I would pool mining with my setup. But that requires choosing the right coins and having enough patience to ride out the variance.

Myth #9: “ASIC Solo Mining Died Years Ago”

This myth exists because people only think about Bitcoin when they hear “ASIC.” Yeah, solo mining Bitcoin with a single ASIC is basically dead unless you have like 500 TH/s minimum. But there are tons of ASIC-mineable altcoins where solo mining still works great.

I bought a used Goldshell KA3 a few months ago for mining Kaspa. It does 166 TH/s on the kHeavyHash algorithm. Kaspa’s network hashrate is around 1.2 PH/s, which means my single KA3 represents about 0.014% of the network. That translates to finding a block roughly every 3-4 weeks.

At current Kaspa prices, each block is worth about 500 KAS or roughly $75-80. My electricity cost for a month is about $35. So I’m netting $40-45 per block, which comes out to around $120-180 per quarter. That’s better than pool mining the same coin would give me after fees.

Other ASICs that work well for solo mining in 2026:

The key is matching your ASIC’s algorithm to a coin where the network hashrate isn’t completely dominated by massive farms. Scrypt coins for Litecoin solo mining, Blake3 for Alephium, and kHeavyHash for Kaspa all have reasonable solo mining opportunities with mid-range ASICs.

Myth #10: “You Can’t Dual Mine While Solo Mining”

This is a weird one that I’ve seen repeated in a bunch of mining forums. People seem to think solo mining and dual mining are somehow incompatible. They’re not. Not even slightly.

I literally run a dual mining solo setup right now. My GPUs mine Kaspa (kHeavyHash) and Alephium (Blake3) simultaneously. I solo mine both. The configuration is barely more complex than single-algo solo mining.

The confusion probably comes from pool mining, where some pools support dual mining and others don’t. With solo mining, you’re in complete control of your mining software, so you can configure it however you want.

Dual mining solo does require a bit more technical setup. You need:

• Mining software that supports dual mining (like lolMiner or GMiner)
• Either two separate nodes or access to two solo pools
• Proper configuration to balance hashrate between the two algorithms
• Understanding that you’re splitting your chances across two blockchains

That last point is important. If you’re dual mining solo, you’re reducing your hashrate on each individual coin, which means longer expected times to find blocks on either chain. But you’re also getting two chances to find a block, so it can actually work out better depending on the coins and current difficulty.

In my testing, dual mining solo works best when both coins have relatively fast block times and similar difficulty-to-hashrate ratios. Trying to dual mine Bitcoin and some obscure altcoin doesn’t make sense, but dual mining two GPU-friendly altcoins absolutely does.

What Nobody Tells You About Solo Mining Reality

Okay, I’ve spent this whole article debunking myths, but let me be real with you about some actual challenges of solo mining that people don’t talk about enough.

The psychological variance is brutal. I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Going 8-10 weeks without finding a block while watching your electricity meter tick up is genuinely stressful. There were times I almost gave up and switched back to pool mining. The only thing that kept me going was understanding the statistics and knowing that variance evens out over time.

You need backup plans. When my Ravencoin node crashed and I didn’t notice for three days, I potentially missed finding a block. That possibility haunts me. Now I run monitoring scripts and have notifications set up. This is not a set-it-and-forget-it thing.

Electricity costs during dry spells hurt. My parents were pretty skeptical when my second month of solo mining resulted in zero blocks and $65 in electricity costs. I had to dip into my saved allowance to cover it. The next month I found two blocks and everything balanced out, but those lean periods are tough when you’re on a budget.

That’s why I wrote the guide on slashing solo mining electricity costs. When you’re going weeks without income, every watt matters.

Hardware failures are scarier when solo mining. When you’re pool mining and your rig goes down for two days, you just lose two days of small earnings. When you’re solo mining and your rig goes down right when you might have found a block… you’ll never know. That uncertainty is worse than the actual losses.

My Honest Assessment: Is Solo Mining Worth It in 2026?

After almost a year of solo mining, here’s my completely honest take: It depends entirely on your situation and psychology.

Solo mining makes sense if you:

• Have enough hashrate to find blocks every 1-3 months on your chosen coin
• Can handle income variance without panicking
• Actually enjoy learning about blockchain technology and mining infrastructure
• Have low enough electricity costs that dry spells won’t bankrupt you

Solo mining probably doesn’t make sense if you:

• Need steady income to cover electricity costs or hardware payments
• Only have enough hashrate for a block every 6+ months
• Just want to mine and not think about it
• Don’t have the patience to wait out statistical variance

For me personally, solo mining has been incredibly educational and surprisingly profitable. I’ve learned more about cryptocurrency in eight months of solo mining than I did in two years of just reading about it online. And when I find a block, the excitement is genuine — it’s my block, found by my hardware, on my node.

But I also have realistic expectations. I’m not getting rich from solo mining Neoxa with my GPU rig. I’m making maybe $30-60 a month on average, which is pretty good for hardware I already owned and electricity I can afford. If I needed to make $500/month to pay rent, solo mining would be completely impractical.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to find your first solo mining block?

It completely depends on your hashrate and the coin you choose. With my 180 MH/s on KawPow mining Ravencoin, I find a block every 45-65 days on average. Someone with 1 TH/s on Kaspa might find blocks every 2-3 weeks. The key is choosing a coin where your hashrate represents at least 0.01% of the network — that gives you a realistic chance of finding blocks every 1-3 months. Use the solo mining calculators to estimate your specific situation before getting started.

Is solo mining more profitable than pool mining for small miners?

For most small miners, pool mining is more profitable because steady income beats variance. But there’s a sweet spot: if you have enough hashrate to find blocks every 1-2 months on a specific coin, solo mining can be 8-15% more profitable because you avoid pool fees and payout thresholds. I make more solo mining Neoxa and Ravencoin with my GPUs than I would pool mining, but that’s only because my hashrate is appropriately sized for those networks. If you’re mining Bitcoin with a single S19, pool mining wins every time.

Do you really need to run your own full node for solo mining?

No, you can start solo mining using public solo pools like solo.ckpool.org or wattpool. These pools don’t split rewards — you get the entire block if you find it, minus a small 0.5-2% fee. Running your own node is more secure and educational, but it’s not required. I started with public solo pools and gradually set up my own nodes for the coins I mine regularly. If you’re just testing solo mining or mining a coin occasionally, public solo pools work fine.

What’s the minimum hashrate needed to solo mine profitably?

There’s no universal minimum because it depends on the coin. The rule I use: your hashrate should be at least 0.01% of the network hashrate, which statistically gives you a block every 1-3 months. For Bitcoin, that would require over 500 TH/s (completely impractical for most people). For Ravencoin, you need around 150-200 MH/s. For smaller coins like Neoxa, even 50 MH/s can work. Check the coin’s network hashrate on a block explorer, do the math, and pick coins that match your hardware capabilities.

Can old ASICs like the Antminer S9 still find blocks solo mining?

Not on Bitcoin — an S9’s 13.5 TH/s would take literally decades to find a Bitcoin block. But on smaller SHA-256 coins like Peercoin or Bitcoin Cash SV, an S9 can still find blocks. I’ve seen solo miners find blocks on these networks with S9s every 3-4 months. The block rewards are smaller than Bitcoin, but if you’re paying cheap electricity and already own the hardware, it can still be profitable. Check out my full analysis of whether the S9 can still find blocks in 2026 for detailed numbers.