Solo Miners Find a New Home Amid Centralization Concerns

Bitcoin mining has seen a surge in solo activity, driven by affordable open-source ASICs and free solo pools. In 2026, despite a massive network hashrate of 934 EH/s and difficulty near 127.45 trillion, hobbyist miners have become increasingly active. The Bitaxe, a low-cost ASIC miner, is at the center of this trend.

The main difference between solo mining and pooled mining lies in the payout structure. In solo mining, there's no proportional payment for shares submitted; instead, the device works independently until it finds a valid block, earning the full block subsidy plus transaction fees. This can be worth over $250,000 at current prices.

Solo CKPool and Public Pool are two popular options for solo miners. While Solo CKPool is hosted by the CKPool team and charges 2% on found blocks, Public Pool is typically self-hosted with no fees. Choosing between them affects both setup steps and fee structures.