What Is Solo Mining?

Bitcoin solo mining is when your miner works independently, without sharing its work or rewards with other miners.

Your miner connects to the Bitcoin network and repeatedly attempts to find a valid block. If it succeeds, the entire block reward is credited to the Bitcoin address you are mining to.

Solo mining is unpredictable by design. For home users, especially those new to Bitcoin mining in Australia, it is best understood as participation and learning, not optimisation or consistency.

This is why solo mining is commonly paired with small, low-power, home-friendly miners, rather than large industrial machines.

Bitcoin Mining Explained in Very Simple Terms

If you are completely new to Bitcoin mining, the easiest way to understand it is this:

Mining is a worldwide guessing game.

Every Bitcoin miner on Earth is trying to guess a random number that fits the network’s rules. The first miner to guess correctly earns the right to add the next block to the Bitcoin blockchain.

Here’s what your miner is doing, in plain language:

1. The Bitcoin network sets a difficulty level (this controls how hard the guessing game is).

2. Your miner takes the latest block information and adds a number to it (called a nonce).

3. That information is run through a mathematical process called “cryptographic function” and results in a hash.

4. If the hash result fits the rules and is above the current difficulty, a block is found.

5. If it doesn’t, the miner changes the number and tries again.

This happens over and over, extremely fast, at incredible rates per second. This is call your Hash rate.

Most guesses are wrong. That’s expected.

A critical thing for beginners to understand is this:

Each guess is completely independent.

Your miner does not learn, warm up, or get closer over time. It’s like rolling a dice — rolling it 1,000 times does not improve the odds of the next roll.

This randomness is intentional and is a core part of how Bitcoin works.

What “Hashing Power” Actually Means

When people talk about a miner’s hashing power, they are talking about how many guesses it can make every second.

Each time a miner changes the number it is guessing, it produces a new result (called a hash). That single attempt is one guess.

Hashing power is simply the speed of guessing:

• 1 hash per second = 1 guess per second

• 1 megahash per second (MH/s) = 1 million guesses per second

• 1 terahash per second (TH/s) = 1 trillion guesses per second

A miner with higher hashing power is not smarter. It is simply guessing more times per second.

Why More Hashing Power Improves Odds (But Guarantees Nothing)

Because every guess is random, the only way to improve your chances is to make more guesses.

Think of it like a lottery:
buying more tickets does not guarantee a win, but it does increase your odds.

The same is true for Bitcoin mining.

A small home miner can find a block.
A large miner can go a long time without finding one.

Solo mining accepts this randomness instead of trying to smooth it out.

What Your Miner Is Competing Against

Your miner is not competing against pools, it is competing against every other miner worldwide.

This is why mining difficulty exists and why blocks are found roughly every 10 minutes, regardless of how many miners are online. As more miners join or leave the network, the guessing game becomes harder or easer accordingly. This difficulty adjustment for Bitcoin occurs every 2 weeks and ensures that the average mining time stays as close to 10 minutes as possible.

Solo mining does not hide this reality. It embraces it.

We have a handy calculator page on our website that helps visualise expectations better. We have also attached a handy hashrate solo mining calculator for Bitcoin to the bottom of this page.

Why Solo Mining Makes Sense for Hobbyists

Solo mining prioritises independence over predictability.

There is no reward sharing, no proportional payouts, and no requirement to trust a large third party with ongoing reward distribution. If a block is ever found, the reward is not diluted.

For many hobbyists, this aligns better with why they start mining in the first place:
to understand how Bitcoin works, support decentralisation, and run a small, quiet device at home.

In Australia, solo mining is often paired with excess solar generation or off-peak power, making it a free running, always-on background activity.

Typical Home Solo Mining Setups

Most home solo mining setups include:

• a compact, open-source miner

• low and predictable power usage

• simple monitoring via a web interface

• optional use of a solo pool while learning

• and, over time, a move to a personal Bitcoin node

This approach is intentionally different from industrial mining and is designed to be approachable and educational.

What About Pool Mining?

Pool mining combines many miners into a group and splits rewards between all participants.

For small home miners, this usually results in:

• extremely tiny payouts (because your share of a large pool is very small you receive cents)

• ongoing pool fees

• reliance on third-party infrastructure

Some people prefer this model because payouts arrive more often. Others find that the amounts are so small that it removes much of the learning and decentralisation value.

This is why many hobbyists prefer solo mining.

Solo Pools (A Common Point of Confusion)

A solo pool is not the same as pool mining.

A solo pool simply helps your miner communicate with the Bitcoin network and submit work. The mining itself remains solo. If your miner finds a block, the reward goes only to you (minus any stated pool fee).

Many beginners start this way while learning, then move to mining directly to their own Bitcoin node later.

Setting the Right Expectations

Solo mining is rare by nature. It should not be viewed as a source of regular outcomes.

It should be viewed as:

• a way to properly understand Bitcoin mining

• a direct contribution to decentralisation

• a long-term, low-pressure hobby

For the most private and resilient setup, mining to your own Bitcoin node is strongly encouraged.

If you’re interested in getting started, we stock home-scale, open-source solo mining devices and accessories designed specifically for learning and low-power operation.