A solo miner just found a bitcoin block and earned $200,000 — again

An independent miner managed to solo-solve bitcoin block 960,804 early Monday — a rare stroke of luck that earned them a 3.157 BTC reward, roughly $199,300 at current prices.

The outlet didn't disclose exactly what hardware the miner used. What's notable is that this is the second such win in three weeks: another independent operator running a hobbyist-grade Bitaxe device recently solved block 957,382, earning roughly the same amount, around $200,000.

• Reward for the new block: 3.157 BTC (~$199,300)
• Solo miners have claimed 13 blocks total in 2026 — rare, but not a one-off
• The wider mining sector is under margin pressure, pushing larger companies to pivot toward AI data centers instead

We previously covered the earlier similar case — how a miner running a $250 device solved a bitcoin block and earned $200,000. At the time, it looked like the exception that proves the rule: a solo miner's odds against large pools are vanishingly small. A second such case in three weeks doesn't change the statistics, but it's a reminder that rare luck keeps happening even as major players increasingly move out of mining and into the far more predictable business of AI infrastructure.

For the industry, this reads more as a curiosity than a trend — but stories like this are exactly what keeps hobbyists with home rigs trying, statistics notwithstanding.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.