Okay so here’s something that confused the hell out of me when I first got into mining: solo mining pools. Like, wait — isn’t solo mining supposed to be… solo? And aren’t pools the exact opposite of solo mining?
Real talk: I spent way too long trying to understand this before it finally clicked. A solo mining pool is basically a service that lets you mine solo while using their infrastructure. You get all the benefits of finding a block yourself (keeping the full reward), but you don’t have to run your own node or deal with the technical headache.
When I first heard about CKPool, I thought it was some kind of scam. Why would a pool let me keep 100% of the block reward? Turns out, there’s actually a pretty clever system behind it.
What Exactly Is a Solo Mining Pool?
A solo mining pool is a mining service that provides the infrastructure for solo mining without requiring you to run a full node yourself. You point your mining hardware at their server, they handle all the blockchain communication, and if you find a block — you get the entire reward minus a small fee.
The key difference from regular pools: You’re not sharing rewards with anyone. Each miner is competing independently.
Think of it like this: Regular pools are like a lottery syndicate where everyone chips in and shares winnings. Solo mining pools are like having someone else buy your lottery ticket for you — if you win, it’s all yours (minus their small service fee).
Here’s what actually happens behind the scenes:
- The pool runs a full node of the cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, for example)
- Your miner connects to their stratum server
- They send you work to process
- You send back solutions
- If your solution solves a block — they submit it to the network with YOUR payout address
The reward goes directly to your wallet. The pool never touches your coins (well, except for their fee which is usually deducted automatically).
How CKPool Pioneered the Solo Mining Pool Model
CKPool is probably the most famous solo mining pool, started by Con Kolivas back in 2014. Con is a bit of a legend in the Bitcoin mining world — he created the CGMiner software that tons of people still use today.
What makes CKPool special is that it’s completely transparent about how it works. They publish their code, explain their fee structure clearly (0.5% for solo Bitcoin mining), and they’ve paid out hundreds of blocks over the years.
I actually monitor their stats page sometimes just to see when someone hits a block. It’s honestly pretty exciting watching someone’s tiny hashrate suddenly find a block worth $66,506 in Bitcoin rewards.
The cool thing about CKPool is they run multiple services:
- solo.ckpool.org for Bitcoin solo mining
- Regular pool services at ckpool.org
- They’re completely open about their infrastructure and even help other pools set up similar systems
Why Would Anyone Run a Solo Mining Pool?
This was my first question. If they’re only taking 0.5-2% fees and blocks are super rare for small miners, how do they make money?
Turns out, volume matters. Even though individual miners rarely hit blocks, CKPool has thousands of miners connected. When someone does hit a block, that 0.5% of 6.25 BTC (current Bitcoin block reward) is around 0.03125 BTC — about $3,125 at $66,506 per coin. A few of those per month covers server costs and makes it worthwhile.
Plus, some pool operators just like supporting the mining community. Con Kolivas definitely seems like one of those people who’s more interested in the tech than getting rich.
Solo Mining Pool vs Traditional Pool Mining: The Real Differences
Let me break down the actual differences because this tripped me up for months.
Traditional Pool Mining:
- You share rewards with everyone based on submitted work
- Steady, predictable income (usually paid out daily or weekly)
- Pool fees typically 1-3%
- You’re essentially selling your hashrate to the pool
- Pool decides which transactions to include in blocks
Solo Mining Pool:
- You compete independently — no shared rewards
- Completely unpredictable income (could be nothing for years, then suddenly a full block)
- Fees usually 0.5-2%
- You’re using their infrastructure but mining for yourself
- Pool still decides transaction selection (unless you run your own node)
The psychology is totally different too. With regular pools, mining feels like a job — you do work, you get paid. With solo mining pools, it feels like a lottery where your chances improve with better hardware.
Here’s the thing: If you’ve got substantial hashrate, solo mining pools make way more sense than regular pools. Why share rewards if you can realistically find blocks on your own?
When I Tried CKPool With My Mini Miner
So last year I got one of those lottery USB Bitcoin miners — basically a novelty device that does maybe 200 GH/s. I knew my chances were basically zero, but I wanted to understand how solo pools actually worked.
Setting it up was stupidly easy. I pointed my miner to solo.ckpool.org:3333, entered my Bitcoin address as the username, and password “x”. That’s it. No registration, no account, nothing.
The pool’s website showed my hashrate within minutes. Seeing my tiny 200 GH/s next to miners running 100+ TH/s was pretty humbling honestly.
My odds? According to the CKPool stats page, roughly 1 in 500 million per day. Yeah. But the cool part was watching the system work. Every share I submitted was tracked, and I could see exactly what I was doing.
Obviously I never hit a block (and probably never will with that hashrate), but it taught me more about mining than any tutorial ever could. You start understanding difficulty, block time variance, and why network hashrate matters so much.
Don’t make my mistake: If you’re trying to actually make money mining Bitcoin, mini miners won’t cut it. Solo pools are for either serious hashrate or hobbyists who understand it’s basically a lottery ticket.
The Technical Side: How Solo Mining Pools Actually Process Your Work
Okay, this gets a bit nerdy but it’s actually pretty interesting once you understand it.
When you connect to a solo mining pool, here’s the actual workflow:
Step 1: Connection and Setup
Your miner connects using the Stratum protocol (the standard for mining communication). You provide your payout address as the username. The pool creates a unique connection for you — you’re not sharing anything with other miners.
Step 2: Work Distribution
The pool’s full node constructs a block template with pending transactions. This is sent to your miner as “work”. The pool is essentially saying “here’s a puzzle, try to solve it with these transactions”.
Step 3: You Mine
Your hardware starts hashing like crazy, trying different nonce values to find a valid hash. Most of the time, nothing happens. Sometimes you find a “share” — a solution that meets a lower difficulty threshold.
Step 4: Share Submission
When you find a share, you send it back to the pool. The pool checks if it’s valid. Most shares don’t solve blocks — they’re just proof you’re actually working. The pool tracks these but doesn’t pay you for them (that’s the difference from regular pools).
Step 5: Block Discovery
If your share meets the network difficulty (much, much harder than regular share difficulty), you’ve found a block! The pool immediately broadcasts it to the network with your payout address. Within minutes, assuming the block isn’t orphaned, you’ve got the full reward in your wallet.
The pool takes their fee automatically by adjusting the coinbase transaction. So if it’s a 6.25 BTC reward with 0.5% fee, you receive 6.21875 BTC.
Why Solo Pools Still Check Shares
Something that confused me: if you’re mining solo, why does the pool care about shares that don’t solve blocks?
Two reasons. First, it proves you’re actually mining and not just sitting idle. Second, it lets them show you statistics about your hashrate and performance. It’s basically quality control.
Some solo pools set higher share difficulty than regular pools specifically because they don’t need as much proof-of-work data — they’re not calculating payouts based on shares.
Alternative Solo Mining Pools Beyond CKPool
CKPool is great for Bitcoin, but there are other options depending on what you’re mining.
SoloPool.org
Supports multiple coins including Bitcoin, Litecoin, and several altcoins. They charge 1-1.5% fees depending on the coin. Interface is pretty basic but it works. I’ve heard mixed things about their uptime though — do your research.
NiceHash Solo
NiceHash offers solo mining options for some algorithms. The catch: you’re paying for hashrate from their marketplace, which usually makes solo mining way less profitable. Unless you’ve got a specific reason, stick with your own hardware.
Mining Dutch Solo
Another multi-coin solo pool. They support some interesting smaller coins where your odds might actually be decent. Fees range from 0.9% to 2% depending on the coin.
For GPU Mining:
If you’re mining Ethereum-based coins or other GPU-mineable options, options get more interesting. For something like Ergo, you might actually have realistic solo odds with a decent GPU rig.
Similarly, Alephium solo mining can be done through pools that support it, though your hashrate requirements are still pretty significant.
When Does Solo Pool Mining Actually Make Sense?
Let’s be honest: for most people, solo mining through a pool doesn’t make financial sense. But there are scenarios where it does.
You Have Substantial Hashrate
If you’re running multiple ASICs with 100+ TH/s total for Bitcoin, or a serious GPU farm for altcoins, your odds improve significantly. At that point, keeping 99.5% of block rewards instead of sharing through a regular pool starts making mathematical sense.
You’re Mining Smaller Coins
This is where solo mining gets interesting. Coins with lower network hashrate and smaller miner counts give you way better odds. A decent GPU setup might realistically hit blocks on coins like Ergo, Flux, or RavenCoin.
Check out Flux GPU mining profitability for example. With 10-20 GPUs, you might hit solo blocks monthly.
You Value the Experience Over Profit
Honestly, this is where I fall. Yeah, my hashrate is tiny and I probably won’t ever hit a Bitcoin block. But solo mining through a pool taught me more about cryptocurrency than six months of reading articles.
It’s like the difference between reading about poker and actually playing. You understand variance, probability, and network dynamics in a way you never would otherwise.
You Want to Support Decentralization
Every solo miner running their own operation (even through a pool) adds to network decentralization. Instead of a handful of massive pools controlling everything, you’re competing independently.
When It Definitely Doesn’t Make Sense
- You’ve got a single ASIC or a few GPUs and need steady income
- You’re mining Bitcoin with anything less than 10 TH/s
- You can’t afford electricity costs without regular payouts
- You’re treating this as a business rather than a hobby/learning experience
Real talk: If you’ve got a single S9 (around 13 TH/s), your chances of hitting a Bitcoin block solo are roughly once every 75 years at current difficulty. Regular pool mining will give you small but steady payouts instead.
Setting Up Your First Solo Mining Pool Connection
Want to try it yourself? Here’s how to actually get started.
What You Need:
- Mining hardware (ASIC or GPU rig) — check out the beginner setup checklist
- A wallet address for your chosen coin
- Mining software (CGMiner, BFGMiner, or whatever works with your hardware)
- Internet connection (obvious, but needs to be stable)
Step-by-Step for CKPool Bitcoin Solo:
1. Get a Bitcoin wallet address. Use a proper wallet, not an exchange address (some pools reject exchange addresses).
2. Configure your mining software with these settings:
- URL: stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333
- Username: Your BTC address
- Password: x (literally just the letter x)
3. Start your miner. Within a few minutes, you should see it connecting and submitting shares.
4. Check your stats at solo.ckpool.org — enter your Bitcoin address to see your hashrate.
That’s basically it. No registration, no complicated setup. The simplicity is actually one of the best things about solo mining pools.
For GPU Coins:
The process is similar but you’ll need appropriate mining software for your algorithm. For Ethash-based coins, lolMiner or T-Rex work well. For KawPow (RavenCoin), TeamRedMiner or T-Rex again.
The Economics: Fees, Orphans, and What You Actually Get
Let’s talk money because this is where things get real.
Pool Fees:
Most solo pools charge 0.5-2%. CKPool is 0.5% for Bitcoin. On a 6.25 BTC block (worth roughly $406,250 at $66,506), that’s 0.03125 BTC or about $2,031 in fees.
Compare that to regular pools charging 1-3% on every payout. If you’re hitting blocks regularly with high hashrate, solo pools save you money.
Orphan Blocks:
Here’s something that sucks: sometimes you find a block but someone else found one at nearly the same time. The network picks one, and yours becomes an “orphan” — you get nothing.
This happens roughly 1-2% of the time. It’s just part of how blockchain works. Good solo pools have low latency and submit blocks immediately to minimize this risk.
I’ve seen posts on Reddit of people finding blocks that got orphaned. It’s absolutely heartbreaking when you’re solo mining.
Transaction Fees:
Besides the block reward (6.25 BTC for Bitcoin currently), you also get all transaction fees from that block. This can be anywhere from 0.1 to 2+ BTC depending on network congestion. The pool doesn’t take a cut of transaction fees at most solo pools — you get the full amount.
Variance is Brutal:
This is the part people underestimate. You could mine for months or years without finding anything. Then suddenly hit two blocks in one week. The variance is wild and can mess with your head.
Real ROI Example
Let’s say you’re running an Antminer S19 Pro (110 TH/s, 3250W):
- Bitcoin network hashrate: ~400 EH/s (400,000,000 TH/s)
- Your percentage of network: 0.0000275%
- Blocks per day: ~144
- Your expected blocks per year: 0.0000275% × 144 × 365 = 1.44 blocks… per thousand years
Yeah. At 110 TH/s, you’d need roughly 700 years on average to find one block solo.
Meanwhile, electricity costs you maybe $200-400/month depending on rates. In a regular pool, you’d earn enough to cover costs and maybe profit a bit.
This is why solo mining Bitcoin only makes sense with truly massive operations or as a lottery ticket hobby.
Solo Mining Pools for Specific Coins Worth Considering
Let’s look at some coins where solo pools actually make sense.
Bitcoin: CKPool is the standard. Unless you have 50+ TH/s, treat it as a lottery.
Litecoin: Similar story to Bitcoin. SoloPool.org supports it. You’d need serious hashrate (hundreds of GH/s for scrypt).
Monero: Interesting because it’s CPU/GPU minable with RandomX algorithm. Lower network hashrate means better odds. With a solid setup (10+ modern CPUs or GPUs), you might actually hit blocks. Current Monero price: $338.64
RavenCoin: KawPow algorithm, GPU mineable. Network hashrate fluctuates a lot. During low periods, a 10-GPU rig could realistically find blocks monthly.
Kaspa: Newer coin with interesting blockDAG technology. Lower difficulty than Bitcoin makes solo mining more realistic. Worth researching if you’ve got GPU hashrate to spare. Current Kaspa price: $0.0296
Ergo: Autolykos algorithm, very GPU-friendly. Network hashrate is manageable enough that serious GPU operations can solo mine effectively.
Dogecoin: Merged-mined with Litecoin, so similar hardware. You’d need substantial scrypt hashrate. Current Dogecoin price: $0.0939
For detailed profitability on specific coins, honestly the math changes constantly with difficulty adjustments. Calculate your odds before committing hardware.
Common Misconceptions About Solo Mining Pools
“It’s a scam — they keep your blocks”
Nope. Reputable pools like CKPool submit blocks with your address. You can verify this on the blockchain. Every block they find shows the miner’s payout address publicly.
“You need to register and create accounts”
Most solo pools don’t require this. You just point your miner at their server with your wallet address. No email, no password, no account.
“They’re illegal or against the coin’s rules”
Solo pools are completely legitimate. They’re just infrastructure services. Nothing about using them violates any cryptocurrency protocol.
“You’re helping the pool steal your hashrate”
You’re not contributing to the pool’s mining efforts. They’re running the infrastructure, you’re mining independently through it. If you hit a block, it’s entirely yours (minus their small fee).
“Solo pools give you better odds than mining alone”
Actually no — your odds are mathematically identical. Solo pools just make the technical setup easier. Your chances depend entirely on your hashrate versus network hashrate.
Should You Actually Use a Solo Mining Pool?
After mining through CKPool on and off for the past year, here’s my honest take.
If you’re serious about mining as income, regular pools make way more sense for most people. Steady payouts let you cover electricity and ROI your hardware investment.
But if you’ve got substantial hashrate, mining smaller coins, or just want to learn and have some fun with the lottery aspect — solo pools are actually pretty great.
What I love about them: They’re pure. You’re competing directly against the network with zero middleman beyond basic infrastructure. When you find a block (if you ever do), that rush is incredible.
What I don’t love: The variance can be psychologically tough. Going months without payouts while electricity bills pile up isn’t fun. You need to be comfortable with that uncertainty.
My recommendation: Try it with a small amount of hashrate first. Point one ASIC or a few GPUs at a solo pool for a month and see how you feel about it. If the lottery aspect excites you and you can afford the gamble, maybe commit more.
But keep your main operation on regular pools for steady income. Use solo mining as your “lottery ticket” side project.
Honestly, the educational value alone makes it worth trying at least once. You’ll understand how solo mining works at a much deeper level than any article can teach you.
Secure Your Winnings
Finding a solo block means receiving 3.125 BTC directly to your wallet — currently worth over $250,000. That amount should never sit on an exchange.
Two hardware wallets we recommend for solo miners:
Ledger Nano X (~$149) — Industry standard, supports BTC natively
Buy Ledger Nano X
Trezor Model T (~$179) — Open-source firmware, strong community trust
Buy Trezor Model T
Frequently Asked Questions About Solo Mining Pools
Do solo mining pools pay transaction fees to miners?
Yes, most solo pools include transaction fees in your block reward. At CKPool for example, you receive the full block subsidy (currently 6.25 BTC for Bitcoin) plus all transaction fees minus their 0.5% fee. Transaction fees can add significant value depending on network congestion.
What happens if two miners on the same solo pool find a block simultaneously?
Each miner is working independently with their own block template. If by crazy coincidence two miners on the same solo pool found blocks at the exact same height, both would be broadcast to the network. The network would accept whichever block propagates faster and achieves consensus first. The other would become an orphan block, and that miner would receive nothing. This is extremely rare though.
Can I switch between solo pool and regular pool mining easily?
Absolutely. You just change the stratum URL and credentials in your mining software. There’s no lock-in period or commitment. Some miners actually run some ASICs on regular pools for steady income and others on solo pools as a lottery ticket. You can switch back and forth anytime.
How does a solo mining pool differ from running your own node?
Running your own node means you maintain the entire blockchain locally, validate all transactions yourself, and construct your own block templates. This gives you maximum control and supports decentralization but requires significant technical knowledge, bandwidth, and storage. Solo pools handle all that infrastructure for you — you just point your miner and go. The tradeoff is trusting their infrastructure and paying a small fee.
Are there minimum hashrate requirements for solo mining pools?
No technical minimum — you can connect with any hashrate, even something ridiculous like a USB miner. But practically speaking, you need substantial hashrate for it to make sense. For Bitcoin, you’d want at minimum 50-100 TH/s to have any realistic chance of finding a block within a reasonable timeframe. For GPU-mineable coins, requirements are much lower depending on network difficulty.