Solo mining with the Bitaxe: is it worth it?

The short answer: solo mining with a home miner is a lottery. A single Bitaxe contributes a tiny fraction of the global computing power, so the chance of finding a whole block on your own is very small. Yet tens of thousands of these devices run worldwide. This guide works out what you can realistically expect, what running one costs and when solo mining makes sense anyway.

What does solo mining mean?

In solo mining you try to find a complete Bitcoin block on your own instead of pooling your computing power with many others. If you find a block, you get the full reward. If you find none, you get nothing. It is all or nothing, with a very high prize and a very small stake.

The prize: a whole block

A solo miner who finds a block collects the complete block reward, currently 3.125 BTC, plus the transaction fees in that block. Depending on the Bitcoin price, that is several hundred thousand euros. It does happen: solo pools have reported blocks found by individual home miners with very little hashrate, though such finds are rare. That lottery character is a large part of the appeal.

How high is the chance?

Here is the calculation. The global network hashrate is in the order of several hundred exahashes per second. At an assumed 800 EH/s, a Bitaxe with 1 TH/s contributes about one 800-millionth of the total computing power. On average, statistically, that means:

• Bitaxe Gamma (~1.3 TH/s): one block roughly every 12,000 years.
• NerdQaxe ++ (~4.8 TH/s): roughly every 3,000 years.
• NerdOctaxe (~12 TH/s): roughly every 1,300 years.

These are statistical averages, not waiting times. Every block is a new roll of the dice; in theory it can hit you tomorrow or never. The values also shift with the network difficulty, which rises over the long term. More on this in Lottery miner explained.

What does running a miner cost?

The stake in this lottery is mostly electricity. At 30 ct/kWh the monthly cost is roughly:

• Bitaxe Gamma (~15 W): around €3 to €4 a month.
• NerdQaxe ++ (~80 W): around €17 a month.
• NerdOctaxe (~200 W): around €44 a month.
• In winter the waste heat helps warm the room.

The exact formula and more examples are in Calculating electricity costs for Bitcoin mining.

Solo or pool?

If you prefer small, regular payouts to a lottery, run the device in a classic pool. You are then paid in proportion to the work you contribute. The catch: with a single small device these payouts are often below the electricity costs. With solo you give up those regular cent amounts for the small chance of a whole block. Both are more hobby than investment; the numbers are in Calculating mining profitability realistically.

Most people run a home miner as a hobby rather than an investment: to support the network, to understand the technology and to have a piece of real decentralisation at home.

A poor investment, a good hobby

As an investment a single miner does not pay; anyone hoping for a sure profit will be disappointed. As an inexpensive and educational hobby that lets you take part in the Bitcoin network, it has a lot going for it. More hashrate improves the chance noticeably but does not change the lottery principle. Go in with realistic expectations and solo mining is a lot of fun. The usual entry point is the Bitaxe Gamma 601; the NerdOctaxe offers a higher block chance. An overview of suitable devices is on our Bitcoin solo mining hardware page.