A miner who is running through the Apollo Solo settings using FutureBit unearthed Bitcoin block 973,262 earlier this week, earning a complete block reward of 3.154 BTC, as well as transaction fees from 2,477 transactions.
Multiple block browsers, including mempool.space, will mark the discoverer as “FutureBit Apollo Solo”, and the coinbase transaction also contains text that mentions FutureBit and Apollo.
FutureBit posted on X, saying: “Gradually, then suddenly. We ( the people ) hit a Bitcoin block today. Bitcoin belongs in the hands of sovereign individuals. And we ’ re building to keep it there.”
The company stated that a Apollo device, or a Solo Node running its built-in solo pool, assembled the block template, performed the necessary calculations, and submitted the completed block to the network. Public records do not specify the exact hardware or computing power that generated this winning hash. According to FutureBit regarding that block, the participating devices could be Apollo BTC, Apollo II, Apollo III, or other compatible machines connected to Solo Node.
This is at least the fourth block attributed to FutureBit Apollo Solo. The previous blocks include 867,760, 881,423, and 888,737.
FutureBit designs its Apollo hardware to enable users to run a full Bitcoin node and mine independently at home, rather than through large commercial mining pools. Its latest model, Apollo III, can achieve a rated computing power of up to 18 TH /s in turbo mode and integrates a complete node. Bitcoin Magazine reported on the release of Apollo III in February 2026, and discussed the concept of home mining with FutureBit in an article from July 2025.
Independent mining is often referred to as "lottery mining" because the probability of winning is extremely low compared to the size of the rewards. Compared to the current network computing power of about 1,070–1,087 EH /s, this method is still quite rare. At the current difficulty level, it would take centuries for a set of home equipment with a capacity of 10–18 TH /s to mine a single block, yet verified solo mining results continue to appear on the chain. These probabilities were analyzed in an article titled "Why Bitcoin Lottery Mining Has Better Odds Than The Powerball", where attempts at mining Bitcoin blocks were compared to the much less frequent draws of large-scale lotteries.
On the second day, CKPool Solo also mined another solo block, which indicates that even though industrialized mining pools produce the vast majority of blocks, individual operators still have the opportunity to receive the full reward. For users running FutureBit hardware, the company states that individual users who control both nodes and solo pool can retain the entire reward when they mine a block. Independent mining also has significant privacy advantages, and in some jurisdictions, hardware and energy costs can be deducted as tax credits.
On October 26th, this block once again verified the feasibility of mining with solo. Satoshi Nakamoto's original design for Bitcoin was to enable full Bitcoin nodes to mine, not just to verify and audit the blockchain. Later on, advancements in hardware and mining optimizations led to the emergence of mining pools, which resulted in a highly competitive and industrialized mining industry. The secondary effects of industrialized Bitcoin mining, such as the stable demand for energy, have helped to stabilize power grids, benefiting regions like Texas as well.
However, the dream of bringing mining back to households and end-users continues through companies such as FutureBit, Bitaxe, and HeatBit. These companies either convert heating equipment into Bitcoin mining machines or specifically design hardware suitable for home use.
