What is solo mining?
Solo mining is a method of cryptocurrency mining where an individual miner attempts to validate blocks and earn rewards entirely on their own, simply by joining a mining pool dedicated to solo mining (We recommend AU CKpool, its what we use in house).
In solo mining, you compete directly with all other miners on the network to solve the cryptographic puzzle required to add a new block to the blockchain. If you are the first to solve the puzzle, you receive the full block reward and any associated transaction fees.
Key points about solo mining:
Independent Operation: You do not share your computing power with others. The rewards are all yours if you succeed.
Higher Risk, Higher Reward: The chance of solving a block is lower compared to pooled mining, but the reward is greater because you don’t split it with others.
Requires Strong Hardware: Because the difficulty of mining is high, solo miners need powerful and efficient devices to increase their chances of successfully mining a block. We sell nothing but the best and most recent in home miners at Australian Crypto Miners
Why Devices Like Bitaxes Are Used for Solo Mining
Bitaxes (or similar specialized mining devices) are designed specifically for cryptocurrency mining. They are often preferred for solo mining because:
High Hashrate: Bitaxes provide a high computational power per device, utilizing the same antminer chip found in industrial miners.
Energy Efficiency: Solo miners need devices that maximize hash power while minimizing electricity costs, and Bitaxes are designed to be efficient for their output while maximizing core voltage.
Reliability: Solo mining requires running your hardware continuously. Bitaxes are built for long-term operation without frequent downtime.
Scalability: Miners can deploy multiple devices like Bitaxes to scale up their solo mining setup, further improving their chances of successfully mining a block.
In short: Solo mining is all about taking full control of the mining process, and specialized devices like Bitaxes give miners the necessary power, efficiency, and reliability to make it feasible. Without high-performance hardware, the odds of successfully mining a block solo are extremely low.
Instructions to Set Up a Bitaxe for Solo Mining on AU-CKPool
Power On the Bitaxe & Connect to Its Wi-Fi
a. Plug in your Bitaxe and power it on.
b. The Bitaxe will broadcast its own Wi-Fi network on the display screen (something like Bitaxe_XXXX).
c. Use your phone or computer to connect to that Wi-Fi SSID.
Open the Bitaxe Configuration Interface
a. Once connected, open a web browser and go to http://192.168.4.1 — this is the default address for the Bitaxe’s local configuration page.
b. If the page doesn’t pop up automatically, type that address into your browser.
Set Up Your Local Wi-Fi
a. In the Bitaxe web portal (AxeOS), go to the Settings section.
b. Enter your home (or mining rig) Wi-Fi’s SSID and password so the Bitaxe can join your network.
c. Make sure the Wi-Fi network is 2.4 GHz, because Bitaxe devices are not compatible with 5 GHz.
d. Save the settings, and then restart the Bitaxe via the menu (or click “Restart” in the GUI) so it reconnects to your Wi-Fi.
Configure the CKPool Solo Mining Settings
a. In the Bitaxe configuration page, go to the pool (“mining pool” or “server”) settings.
b. Enter the following:
i. Pool (Stratum) URL: ausolo.ckpool.org
ii. Port: 3333 — this is the normal difficulty port for CKPool solo.
Username / Worker name: Your Bitcoin address. For example, bc1xyz… or whatever your wallet address is.
iii. Optionally, you can add a “worker extension,” for instance: YOURBTCADDRESS.bitaxe1 — this helps you identify which Bitaxe is which if you have more than one.
iv. Password: You can just use something like x (CKPool ignores it for solo).
c. Click Save or whatever the button is in the UI.
d. More information on the mining pool can be found at ausolo.ckpool.org
Restart Your Bitaxe
a. After saving, restart or reboot the miner from the AxeOS portal so the new pool settings take effect.
b. The Bitaxe should now connect over your Wi-Fi to CKPool and begin hashing.
Check That It’s Mining
a. On the Bitaxe’s OLED / status screen: you should see hashing activity.
b. On CKPool: go to ausolostats.ckpool.org and enter your Bitcoin address to see your miner’s stats.
c. Make sure accepted shares are increasing, and stale share rate is low — if stale rate is high, try improving your network latency or use a closer pool endpoint.
Safety & Double Check Your Wallet Address
a. Important: Double-check that the Bitcoin address you entered is correct, because if you mine a block, the reward goes exactly to that address.
b. Make sure you have access (private keys or wallet) for that address — if you lose access, you lose any mined BTC.