A solo Bitcoin miner has successfully validated a block on the Bitcoin network, earning a reward worth over $330,000.

Identified as Solo CK, the individual mined Bitcoin block #899826 on June 5 at 04:48:18 UTC.

$330K Mining Reward

On-chain data from mempool shows that the reward included the standard block subsidy and 0.026 BTC in transaction fees. This brought the miner’s total earnings to approximately $330,386 based on current market prices.

The block itself measured 1.66 megabytes in size and weighed 3.99 megawatt units (MWU). The hash for the successfully mined block was “000000…d1f8bb3,” with the transaction fees alone being worth around $2,761.

Independent Bitcoin mining success remains extremely rare due to the high computational power needed to validate a block. Most of such activities today are done by large-scale operations using warehouses filled with specialized mining equipment. Many of these operations are run by companies publicly listed on U.S. stock exchanges like Bit Digital, Riot Blockchain, and Marathon Digital.

As of June 5, data from YCharts reveals that the Bitcoin Network Hash Rate stands at 795.35M. This figure is down from 908.97M yesterday and up by over 40% one year ago. A higher hashrate means increased competition, greater energy demands, and longer verification and transaction times.

These conditions make it more difficult for individual miners to succeed without pooled resources. Additionally, Bitcoin mining becomes increasingly hard and energy-intensive over time, requiring greater resources to remain effective.

1 in 1.6 Million Odds

Experts estimate the odds of an independent miner successfully validating a block using their own hardware to be roughly 1 in 1.6 million. Statistically, this means a single individual would expect to solve one block every 31 years.

Despite the long odds, solo participants occasionally achieve success, as seen in the recent case of Solo CK. Several other individuals have also managed to mine a Bitcoin block on their own.

In February 2025, one such user mined Block 883,181, earning 3.158 BTC worth $310,000 at the time. On April 29, 2024, another solo operator validated Block 841,286 and received the full 3.125 BTC reward worth approximately $200,000. In July of the same year, a BitAXE device with a hashrate of just 500 gigahashes per second (Gh/s) successfully mined Block 853,742, securing a Bitcoin reward of $206,000.

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has raised $1.1 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), which was priced above expectations.

The development comes as the U.S. Congress is currently reviewing federal legislation on stablecoins.

Circle’s Valuation Could Hit $6.2 B

According to a Bloomberg report, Circle’s IPO is likely to price above its marketed range after attracting demand for more than 25 times the number of shares available in the upsized deal.

Based on figures in the company’s latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the stablecoin issuer and several of its backers planned on raising $896 million at the top of the $27 to $28 price range.

People familiar with the matter revealed that Circle and the selling shareholders are offering 32 million shares in the deal. Notably, this figure is up from 24 million shares provided earlier at $24 to $26 each. They also said that most shares will go to investors who plan to hold the stock long-term. However, deliberations are ongoing, and the company may still price the investment within the original range.

CoinGecko data shows that Circle’s USDC had about a 29% share of the stablecoin market as of March this year. At the high end, the firm would have a market cap of nearly $6.2 billion. Bloomberg estimates show that when factoring in options, restricted stock units, and warrants, its fully diluted valuation would also rise to around $7.2 billion.

The anonymous sources also indicated that the IPO will be priced on Wednesday evening in New York. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs are serving as lead underwriters. The offering is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CRCL.

ARK and BlackRock Show Interest

The IPO has allegedly already attracted interest from major investors. The report notes that ARK Investment Management, led by Cathie Wood, showed intentions of acquiring up to $150 million in shares. On the other hand, BlackRock plans to buy about 10% of the offering.

This development coincides with growing attention in Washington on stablecoins as lawmakers push forward legislation to govern the sector.

Two key bills, the STABLE Act and the GENIUS Act, are currently advancing through the House and Senate. On April 2, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee passed the former, which now needs to get a full House vote and then a Senate vote in its next stages of approval into law.  Meanwhile, the latter advanced in a 66-32 Senate vote on May 20 and will now proceed to the next legislative stage.

If enacted into law, these bills would give stablecoins greater legitimacy, encouraging institutional adoption while mitigating risks associated with unregulated digital currencies.

Bitcoin’s underwhelming price actions continued in the past 24 hours as the asset has lost some ground compared to yesterday and sits below $105,000.

The altcoins have posted even bigger losses, especially AVAX, UNI, HYPE, XMR, ENA, and a few others.

BTC Falls Beneath $105K

It was just two weeks ago, on Bitcoin Pizza Day, when the primary cryptocurrency skyrocketed to a fresh all-time high of almost $112,000. However, it failed to maintain its run and started to retrace almost immediately.

At first, it remained around $110,000 but was stopped and driven south last week. The most violent rejection arrived at the end of the business week when the bears pushed bitcoin down by several grand. The culmination took place on Saturday when BTC slumped to a 12-day low of $103,100.

The cs-are-overheating-while-bitcoin-remains-bullish-cryptoquant/finally stepped up at this point and didn’t allow a potential breakdown toward five-digit territory. Bitcoin started to recover and aimed at $106,000 on a few occasions since then. However, each attempt was stopped in its tracks, and BTC now sits below $105,000 after the more recent rejection.

Its market capitalization has dropped to $2.080 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts has recovered to 61%.

Alts Back in Red

Most altcoins have charted even bigger losses than BTC in the past day, evident from their reduced market share. Avalanche is among the poorest performers, having lost over 5% of value and sitting just inches above $20. UNI has dropped by a similar percentage, while XMR has plunged by over 8%.

HYPE, DOGE, and LINK are also well in the red, while ADA, SUI, and XRP have lost up to 2%.

The cumulative market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has dropped by more than $30 billion since yesterday and is below $3.410 trillion on CG.