Solo Mining: What It Is, Why It’s Rare Today, and What You Need to Know

When you hear solo mining, the practice of mining cryptocurrency using your own hardware without joining a group. Also known as individual mining, it’s the original way Bitcoin was mined—back when a regular PC could earn you a block reward. Today, solo mining is like trying to win the lottery with one ticket. The network difficulty has exploded, and the hardware needed to compete costs thousands. Most people who try it end up spending more on electricity than they earn.

Why does this happen? Because Bitcoin’s algorithm adjusts every two weeks to keep block times at 10 minutes. As more powerful machines join the network, your home rig gets left behind. Even high-end ASIC miners, which cost $3,000–$5,000, struggle to find a block on their own unless they’re running 24/7 with near-zero electricity costs. That’s why nearly all miners now join mining pools, groups of miners who combine their computing power to increase chances of earning rewards. In a pool, you get small, steady payouts instead of waiting months for a single block. It’s not glamorous, but it’s practical.

And it’s not just Bitcoin. Most Proof-of-Work coins—like Litecoin or Monero—follow the same pattern. Solo mining only makes sense if you’ve got access to cheap power, top-tier hardware, and serious patience. Even then, the risk of zero returns for months is real. Some people still try it for the technical challenge or to support network decentralization. But if your goal is to make money, you’re better off looking at mining hardware, specialized devices designed to solve cryptographic puzzles efficiently for staking, cloud mining, or simply buying crypto outright.

What you’ll find in the posts below aren’t guides on how to solo mine Bitcoin profitably—because those don’t exist anymore. Instead, you’ll see real breakdowns of what actually works in crypto mining today: how exchanges handle mining-related tokens, what happens when a mining coin dies (like Intexcoin), how regulations in places like Pakistan are shaping mining, and why some so-called "mining" projects are just scams. You’ll also learn how to spot fake mining coins, understand the real cost of running hardware, and find better ways to earn from blockchain than grinding away on outdated rigs.