The CK Pool strikes again! In case you're not aware, the solo CKPool is an open-source not-for-profit bitcoin mining pool. It is not a traditional pay-per-share pool, but solo pool that allows miners an opportunity to mine blocks and keep the entire block reward (currently 3.125 BTC) minus a 2% fee toward pool maintenance. 

Well, the last time a miner connected to the CKPool found a block was on December 11, 2025.

This is not a late April Fool's Day joke!! A block has been found by a miner operating with a hashing power of 240 Th/s, which is extremely low compared to the current network hashrate (as of this writing) of 1.001 Zh/s. In other words, their odds of confirmation per block (approximately every 10 minutes) are about 0.00023976%

They don't call it lottery mining for nothing!! But you gotta hash to find that block!!

I saw the news first via a post on X from SoloSatoshi, a top provider of open-source bitcoin mining hardware.

So, yes there is always a chance -- no matter the odds! This isn't the first instance of a small solo miner finding a block. On November 20, 2025, a miner with a mere 6 Th/s beat the 1-in-180 million odds and confirmed block 924569 on the blockchain and earned the mining reward of 3.125 BTC (minus the pool fees).

If you are interested in joining the digital gold rush that is Bitcoin, I would highly suggest starting with a BitAxe from Solo Satoshi. It's a great starter ASIC miner, easy to setup, and features a low power draw compared to other models. While they boast a modestly small hashrate (the BitAxe Gamma 601 gets 1.2 Th/s on default configuration), it's a great place to start without breaking the bank.

The original Bitcoin faucet is long gone, but there are still ways to collect some free crypto if you invest some of your free time:

• Sign up here on Publish0x, if you haven't already, to earn free crypto for reading & writing content

• Join Cointiply and roll the faucet every hour, view PTC ads, take surveys to earn free Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, or Dash

• Downoad the Bitcoin Cash Giveaway to collect some free BCH sats, paid out weekly

• Check out Yescoiner to easily collect some satoshis; no nonsense -- just solve a captcha. Low payout, slow drip here

• For rewards in XNO, DOGE and BTC, check out TipNano app

• Visit Stacker.news and earn some sats by posting interesting content and commenting what others share

• Final Autoclaim is DutchyCorp's longstanding faucet, online and active since 2019

• If you're DCA'ing your Bitcoin stack, try River for zero-fee recurring BTC buys & earn 3.5% Bitcoin interest on deposited USD

• Slice is a Google Chrome browser extension that allows you to earn BTC for browsing, paid via Lightning Network

If you're interested in joining the digital gold rush and want to get a desktop Bitcoin miner:

• Head to Solo Satoshi and check out their open-source BitAxe models. They're a great starting point for beginning miners!