Cryptocurrency mining has become big business and many major operations are running tons of rigs and their own power plants to solve blocks. Within the same operations, you could also mine Bitcoin from your pocket with some components that cost less than $400. This includes the single-board computer "Raspberry Pi Zero W 2," a heatsink case and a USB-based bitcoin miner built on Antminer's BM1397 ASIC chip, that promises up to 350 gigahashes per second (GH/s). This is the same chip used in Bitmain's famous Antminer S17 and S17 Pro. By attaching a heatsink, the components will help absorb and disperse the heat, which is essential to a successful mining venture. Mining with tiny devices is commonly known as "lotto mining," due to its little chances of successfully mining Bitcoin blocks. With a hash rate of 350 GH/s, it will take solo miners around 21,400 years to achieve one successful Bitcoin block reward. In comparison, large firms such as Marathon Digital can make up to 24 BTC ($656,300) per day. But, solo miners can increase their chances of a win by joining mining pools, which can boost their odds by a considerable amount. Inspiringly, two solo Bitcoin miners managed to achieve mining success in a matter of two days last year, by using only a small number of mining chips. The miners employed a software called Solo CK Pool which gave them 98% of the rewards, with 2% going to the administrator. Despite the low chances of successfully mining a Bitcoin block reward, soloCK miners have had some success over the past eight years with a total of 257 blocks. Despite this being framed as a lottery, it is still a great way to start tinkering with blockchain technology in its purest form and the reward can almost be seen as an indefinite lottery ticket.



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