Solo bitcoin miner wins $200k with $150 Bitaxe via Public Pool

A solo bitcoin miner mined Bitcoin block #957,382 using a credit-card-sized Bitaxe ASIC costing about $60–$150. It ran on Public Pool for roughly eight hours with an average rate near 1 TH/s (995 GH/s), earning 3.1382 BTC, worth about $200,000. The odds were estimated at about once in 18,000 years, and the report says this is the second time a Bitaxe has produced a solo block on Public Pool. The Bitaxe design is open-source and uses the Bitmain BM1370 chip found in Antminer S21-class hardware, delivering roughly 1–1.3 TH/s at 15–21 watts. Broader market context: mining difficulty fell 5% to 127.17T on July 12 after a bigger mid-June drop of more than 10%, improving odds for small operators. At the same time, solo bitcoin mining activity is described as “having a moment,” with 24 solo blocks in the past 12 months (+41% YoY) and 12 solo blocks already in 2026. For traders, the key takeaway is that solo bitcoin mining outcomes mainly affect mining economics and potential miner sell pressure, not BTC price fundamentals directly. Watch for any sentiment shift around network security/profitability as difficulty moves and large miners adjust business models.