The true evaluation of low-power BTC miners: Feasibility analysis of SOLO mining as a long-term financial experiment

I spent over 6,000 yuan to buy two low-power Bitcoin miners, intending to conduct a long-term digital experiment—rather than just simple investing. It may sound like a fairy tale, but after personally researching, purchasing, and operating, I want to share some real experiences regarding BTC miner selection and SOLO mining mode.

First, a clarification: I cleared all my previous BTC holdings in early 2025. Not because I was pessimistic about the market, but because I believed the returns at the $93,000 price level were already sufficient, and I wanted to free up funds to explore other possibilities—including the interesting field of low-power miners.

Inspiration from Foreign Geek Communities: Small Power Miners Can Also Find Blocks

During the period after I cleared my holdings, I started paying attention to what foreign geek circles were discussing and discovered some surprising cases:

In March 2025, a developer using Bitaxe Nano for SOLO mining successfully found a BTC block, earning over $260,000 in rewards at once. Earlier, in 2024, a Russian geek persisted in SOLO mining for nine months and also found a block, earning about $300,000.

On communities like Reddit, Bitcointalk, and Twitter, I saw more and more low-power enthusiasts discussing a common topic: how to challenge the global Bitcoin network with just a few watts of power. This isn’t about “getting rich quick,” but treating mining as a form of digital extreme sports—a bold bet on cosmic probability.

This atmosphere is almost invisible in Chinese communities. The focus of Chinese crypto communities is usually on coin speculation and large-scale mining farms, with few viewing mining from the perspective of “low probability, high expectation.” This sparked my strong curiosity.

How BTC Miners Work: Why I Chose SOLO Mode

The Bitcoin network generates a new block every 10 minutes. Global miners compete with their computing power; whoever finds a hash that meets the criteria first wins the reward (currently 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees). This process is essentially a global “mathematical lottery.”

There are three traditional mining modes:

Pool mining is the most common. All participants’ hash power is pooled together, and when the pool finds a block, rewards are distributed proportionally to each contributor. This mode guarantees relatively stable income, but everyone gets “small fragments.”

PPLNS or similar modes have slightly different distribution mechanisms but the basic logic is the same.

SOLO mining is the third path. Your miner works alone, competing with your own hash power. If you find a block, you get the entire reward; if not, you earn nothing.

Why did I choose SOLO? The reasons are simple but honest:

• My budget is limited, and there’s no need to rush to recover costs
• I don’t expect tiny daily fragments
• I want a “big chance,” even if the probability is extremely low

This is more like placing a “long-term bet” on my life.

Equipment Choice: Specific Configuration of Two Low-Power Miners

I ultimately purchased two Avalon Nano miners, with detailed specs:

• Hash rate: about 6T per unit
• Power consumption: around 140W, almost silent during operation
• Electricity cost: I placed them in a friend’s office at an IT company, costing about 50 RMB/month
• Purchase cost: over 6,000 yuan (including overseas purchase and Hong Kong shipping fees)

The key reason for choosing Avalon Nano over other products: low power consumption, low noise, mature and reliable product.

My dual-track SOLO strategy:

The first runs BTC for SOLO mining, aiming for a “big win once.”

The second runs BCH (Bitcoin Cash) for SOLO mining. BCH’s network difficulty is much lower than BTC, making it theoretically easier to find a block—this is a “cost recovery insurance” idea.

Practical Challenges in Technical Implementation

Getting BTC miners to work normally in China faces several technical hurdles:

Network issues: Domestic access to international mining pools requires VPNs or intermediary proxies. Direct connections can be unstable. I set up an intermediary mining pool with international routing to relay traffic.

Stealth: Since the devices are placed in an office, I bought portable WiFi and 4G SIM cards for independent network access. This avoids detection of abnormal miner traffic by the company network. The devices are small and quiet, so they won’t attract attention.

Mining pool selection: For BTC SOLO mining, I chose Ckpool—recognized as the most stable SOLO pool in the community. For BCH, I chose 2miners (which also supports SOLO mode).

Reminder: Using third-party intermediary pools has risks. Stratum mining protocol is open, and can be tampered with. Many proxy pools “intercept” part of your hash power (e.g., steal 5%) as their “service fee.” This is a gray area in the industry and requires vigilance.

Probability Math: How Long Do You Need to Mine to Win?

This is the most realistic question. Based on current network difficulty and my device hash rate:

• BTC annual winning probability: 0.00035% (theoretically, it would take 2,857 years to find a block)
• BCH annual winning probability: 0.067% (about 15 years theoretically)

But the key point is—probability does not mean the average.

Some hit the jackpot in 9 months, others may never get it in their lifetime. No one can predict when “your moment” will come.

SOLO Mining vs. Traditional Lottery: Where Are the Winning Strategies

You might ask: Isn’t this just like buying a lottery ticket? Why not just buy lottery tickets directly?

The answer lies in three dimensions:

Frequency: Lottery is a one-time event. But your mining machine conducts 144 “draws” every day (once every 10 minutes).

Cost: Buying a lottery ticket costs each time. Mining requires a one-time investment, and then it can continue “automatically participating” for years.

Surprise factor: Lottery results end after the draw. But a mining machine can surprise you at the most unexpected moment—perhaps on a mundane morning, you open logs and see “Congratulations! Block found.”

Who Is Suitable for Doing This

Honestly, this is not a universally recommended choice. The following types of people can seriously consider:

• People with stable income but lacking a sense of “expectation”: fixed monthly salary but missing a bit of “luck” in life
• People with free or very low-cost electricity: such as company internet power or excess solar energy at home
• People who can accept the worst outcome: at the moment of buying the miner, you are essentially “losing” that money
• People not in a hurry to recover costs: this is a long-term game, not a quick wealth scheme

Final Honest Warning

Please understand the following points, which are truths about BTC miners and SOLO mining:

This is not a financial product. From the moment you purchase equipment, you should mentally assume that the money has already been spent.

Do not borrow money to participate. This activity carries extremely high risks.

Do not dream of buying multiple miners and going all-in. Greed is the biggest enemy in such endeavors.

Do not expect to definitely recover costs. Probability is cruel—there may never be that moment.

But if you can genuinely accept these limitations, owning a low-power BTC miner might become an interesting, lasting, quietly accompanying “digital adventure” in your life. It may not change your life, but it can add a little “maybe someday I’ll hit it” possibility to your daily routine.

This is my honest assessment of this geek-style SOLO mining experience.