Key Points
- A solo miner secured a 3.146 BTC reward, thanks to hashrate contributions from a fundraiser by the 256 Foundation.
- The 256 Foundation aims to make Bitcoin mining more accessible and decentralize the process.
On January 30, 2025, a solo miner achieved a remarkable feat by solving a block and earning a reward of 3.146 BTC. This achievement was applauded by several crypto enthusiasts.
However, it was later discovered that the solo miner’s hashrate was contributed by over 300 individuals as part of a fundraiser for the 256 Foundation, a non-profit organization.
The Significance of Solo Mining
In the early days of Bitcoin, it was possible to mine hundreds of bitcoins with a standard PC. By the end of 2009, less than a hundred Bitcoin miners had mined around 2.5 million bitcoins at the lowest difficulty.
As the value of Bitcoin began to rise, so did the mining difficulty. Despite objections from Satoshi Nakamoto, miners started using GPUs in the fall of 2010, making it harder for individuals to mine bitcoins on their personal computers.
The introduction of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in 2013 further intensified the situation. These high-end devices, designed specifically for Bitcoin mining, became the norm, pushing out individual miners.
Given the high difficulty of mining, even pool mining requires expensive equipment. A handful of mining pools are responsible for most of the hashrate in Bitcoin mining, making it extremely difficult for a solo miner to solve a block.
The 256 Foundation’s Mission
The 256 Foundation was established in February 2024 with the goal of dismantling the proprietary mining empire and making Bitcoin more accessible.
The foundation educates people about Bitcoin, develops and distributes free and open-source software for mining, and encourages its users to share, upgrade, use, or even sell the solutions provided by the foundation.
During the foundation’s first fundraiser on January 30, more than 350 entities mined in the 256 Foundation pool. The hashrate was contributed to the solo miner, who solved the block at around 881 Ph/s rate, raising 3.146 BTC for the foundation.
The participants in the fundraiser mining event used FutureBit Apollo devices, which were designed to counter the centralization of mining and make it possible for solo miners to solve blocks again. The founder of FutureBit sees it as a battle between David and Goliath, with Goliath still at full strength despite the lucky shot.