Best Coins to Solo Mine in 2026

The best coin to solo mine isn’t a name — it’s whichever chain your hashrate can realistically catch. When most people decide to solo mine, the first coin that comes to mind is Bitcoin: the biggest reward, the dream of waking up to a 3.125 BTC coinbase. It’s a beautiful dream, and for most miners it’s the wrong one. Solo mining is a hunt, and the hunter who chases the largest prey isn’t always the one who eats. Pick the right prey for your teeth and you survive the winter.

So before we name names: “best coin” is an equation, not a list. The variables are your hashrate, your patience, your appetite for variance, and your hardware budget. Get them right and the coin almost picks itself. Get them wrong and you’ll spend two years pointing 1 TH/s at Bitcoin’s network wondering why nothing happens. This guide gives you the math — real numbers, real hardware, real expected times — so you’ll know exactly which chain your rig should be hunting.

Key takeaways

• ”Best coin” depends entirely on your hashrate: small devices belong on small chains; only S21-class rigs and up have realistic BCH odds; BTC is a lottery below industrial scale.
• The small chains grew in 2026. BC2 expanded roughly 30× (to around 10 PH/s), so a single Bitaxe no longer finds daily blocks there — it’s now a patient, weeks-to-months chain for small hardware.
• An S21+ on BCH averages about 110 days per block; on the small chains (XEC, BC2, BCH2) a big rig still finds blocks in days.
• Renting hashrate buys you odds, not profit: at current coin prices the expected value of a short rental is negative — treat it as paying for a shot, not as a money-maker.
• Variance dominates everything. The mean is a long-run average, not a schedule; plan for stretches several times longer than the mean.

The formula every solo miner should tattoo somewhere

Here’s the equation. It is brutally simple and it does not care about your feelings:

Mean time to find a block (days) ≈ network hashrate ÷ your hashrate ÷ blocks per day

For SHA-256 chains, blocks per day is 144 (one block every ~10 minutes). The two numbers that change everything are the network hashrate (the entire mining force on a chain) and your hashrate (whatever you’ve got plugged in). The ratio between them is your slice of the network; multiply that slice by 144 and you have your daily probability, flip it and you have your mean time to a block.

One more thing: this is the mean. Solo mining is a Poisson process, so the actual time can be twice the mean — or half, or zero because you got lucky in the first hour. Variance is the second character in this story, and we’ll meet her properly below.

The five SHA-256 chains, sized honestly

Approximate network figures as of mid-2026 (these change constantly — check the live Network Radar or miningpoolstats.stream):

Notice the spread: Bitcoin’s network is roughly 280× larger than Bitcoin Cash, and on the order of 100,000× larger than Bitcoin II. Same SHA-256 algorithm, same hardware, wildly different probability landscapes. That spread is the entire game. One important 2026 update: the small chains are no longer tiny. BC2 in particular grew roughly thirtyfold over the year, so the old advice that “a Bitaxe finds BC2 blocks every day or two” no longer holds — more on that below.

The hardware: what’s in the field, and what it actually does

Open-source / DIY tier — Bitaxe & friends

The Bitaxe family is what happened when a few obsessed engineers asked: what if a single ASIC chip could be turned into a self-contained miner you hold in your hand? The answer changed solo mining culture.

• Bitaxe Ultra — single BM1366 chip, ~0.5 TH/s, ~15W, ~$150-200
• Bitaxe Supra — single BM1368 chip, ~0.7-1 TH/s, ~18W, ~$200-300
• Bitaxe Gamma — single BM1370 chip, ~1.0-1.2 TH/s, ~17W, ~$200-300
• NerdQAxe+ — 4× BM1368 chips, ~4-5 TH/s, ~75W, DIY or pre-built ~$500-700
• NerdOCTAxe — 8× BM1370 chips, ~10-12 TH/s, ~150W, DIY ~$800-1,200
• Nexus S1 — 4× BM1373 (3nm), ~10 TH/s, ~100W, ~$599 (the new efficiency leader)
• NerdMiner v2 — ESP32-based, ~75 KH/s — fun project, statistically symbolic

The whole point of these devices is that they’re too small to mine BTC competitively, which is exactly what makes them interesting for the smaller chains. A Bitaxe Supra has the same per-hash probability of finding a Bitcoin block as a $5,000 industrial rig — just hundreds of times fewer hashes per second. The chip doesn’t know; the math doesn’t care. Probability is uniform across hash count, regardless of who computed it. (For the brand-new 3nm option, see our Nexus S1 breakdown.)

Industrial tier — the workhorses

• Antminer S19 Pro — ~110 TH/s, 29.5 J/TH, used market $1,200-1,800
• Antminer S19 XP — ~140 TH/s, 21.5 J/TH, ~$2,000-2,500
• Antminer S21 — ~200 TH/s, 17.5 J/TH, ~$3,000-3,500
• Antminer S21+ — ~235 TH/s, 16.5 J/TH, ~$3,500-4,500
• Antminer S21 Pro — ~234 TH/s, 15 J/TH, ~$4,000-5,000
• Antminer S21 XP Hydro — ~473 TH/s, 12 J/TH, ~$5,500-7,000 (water-cooled)
• Antminer S23 Hydro — ~580 TH/s, ~9.5 J/TH, ~$8,000-10,000 (Bitmain’s 2026 flagship; check availability)
• Whatsminer M66S — ~298 TH/s, 18.5 J/TH, ~$4,000
• Whatsminer M63S — ~390 TH/s, 18.5 J/TH (hydro), ~$5,500
• Whatsminer M60S — ~186 TH/s, 18.5 J/TH, ~$2,500
• Avalon A1566 — ~185 TH/s, 19.5 J/TH, ~$2,800
• Avalon A1566I (immersion) — ~249 TH/s, 19 J/TH, ~$3,800

If you’re serious about solo mining BCH or BTC, this is where you live. Pick by efficiency (J/TH) if your power is expensive, by upfront cost if you want fast ROI, by hashrate if you want statistical odds — or simply pick the rig you can actually keep cool, quiet enough to live with, and powered without tripping a breaker.

The numbers: real expected times for real hardware

Here’s where it gets concrete. We ran the formula across popular devices and every chain. “Mean time” is the average wait for a block — half the population finds it sooner, half waits longer, and the variance is significant. For BC2 and BCH2 the figures are shown as ranges, because those chains are small enough that difficulty (and therefore your odds) swings noticeably from week to week — always confirm the current number on the Network Radar.

Bitaxe Gamma (1.2 TH/s) — the desktop dreamer

Read that table twice. A Bitaxe will statistically find a Bitcoin block once every fifteen thousand years. On the small chains it does far better, but here’s the honest 2026 correction: when BC2 was running a few hundred TH/s, a Gamma could expect a block every day or two — that era is over. With BC2 near 10 PH/s, a single Bitaxe is now looking at weeks to months per block (and BC2’s difficulty swings widen that range further). The smaller chains are still dramatically more accessible than Bitcoin, but “daily blocks on a Bitaxe” is outdated advice. For more on this, see can a Bitaxe really find a block?

NerdOCTAxe (~11 TH/s) — the eight-chip beast

This is where stacked open-source hardware earns its keep. A NerdOCTAxe (or a Nexus S1 at similar hashrate) has genuinely meaningful odds on the smaller networks — days to a few weeks per block on BC2/BCH2, around a month on XEC — and every block pays the full subsidy straight to your wallet. This is the niche these devices were designed for, even after the small chains grew.

Antminer S21+ (235 TH/s) — the workhorse

One S21+ on BCH expects a block roughly every 3-4 months. That sounds long, but a ~$600 block several times a year on a single rig is a respectable lottery-side return — and on the smaller chains the same rig finds blocks in hours to days. This is solo mining’s sweet spot for individuals: real hardware, real reward, realistic timeline. (Full walkthrough in our guide to solo mining BCH with an S21+.)

S23 Hydro (~580 TH/s) — the apex predator

If you can get one (Bitmain’s 2026 flagship, hydro-cooled, 9.5 J/TH), a single S23 Hydro on BCH sits around a ~42-day mean (~6 weeks) per block. Six of them — a serious individual setup — would average one roughly every 7 days. That’s no longer “lottery”; that’s a part-time income stream with built-in jackpot variance. (For the chip behind it, see our Antminer S23 deep dive.)

A note on variance, with a concrete example

For honest reference: a setup averaging around 25 days per BCH block can still land three blocks inside three weeks — and can equally well go two months with nothing. Both are normal Poisson behaviour, not luck running out or hardware failing. Variance is the second character in every solo-mining story. Never forget her. (We go deep on the distribution math in our Poisson and variance guide.)

The rental option — buying odds on demand

Don’t own hardware? You can still solo mine. Hashrate rental marketplaces let you pay for hashes by the hour or day, point them at any pool, and keep whatever they win.

The two players that matter for SHA-256 are MiningRigRentals (MRR) and NiceHash. Both work with SoloFury — just point the rented hashrate at the stratum URL with your wallet address as the username. Pricing in mid-2026 hovers around $0.05-0.10 per TH/day on MRR depending on demand, with NiceHash at similar effective rates. Quick scenarios against BCH (~3.5 EH/s) and BC2 (~10 PH/s):

Be honest about the EV. Spending ~$150 for roughly a 1-in-12 shot at a ~$600 BCH block is negative expected value at today’s prices — most of the time you spend the money and find nothing. People genuinely do hit blocks renting, and it can be a fun, bounded way to take a shot, but it is not a profit strategy at current coin prices. Set a budget you can afford to lose, and don’t chase losses. (This is not financial advice.)

The rental approach is also how you solo mine without owning hardware, power, heat or noise — you’re paying for pure probability. Practical tip: rates are priced per generic TH/s, so target the chain where each hash has the best odds. On the smaller chains your per-hash probability is far higher than on BTC; point the rental where it actually has a chance.

Variance — the part nobody warns you about

Solo mining is a Poisson process: even if your mean time to a block is 60 days, the actual time follows an exponential distribution:

• ~37% chance you find a block in less than half the mean time
• ~37% chance you wait between half and one-and-a-half times the mean
• ~26% chance you wait longer than the mean (sometimes several times longer)

If your mean is 60 days, there’s a ~5% chance you’ll wait over 180 days — and a ~5% chance you’ll find one in the first 3. Both extremes are normal. The miners who blow up emotionally are the ones who assume “60-day mean” means “around day 50 to 70,” then panic at day 130, change pools, change coins, change strategies, and lock in their bad luck. The math doesn’t punish impatience, but it doesn’t reward it either. Pick your field and stay in it.

What to actually do, by hardware

If you have a Bitaxe or NerdQAxe

Aim at XEC, BC2 or BCH2 — far more accessible than Bitcoin, though with the small chains’ 2026 growth you should expect weeks to months per block on a single small device, not days. Connect to xec.solofury.com:9090, bc2.solofury.com:8080 or bch2.solofury.com:8585, set your wallet as the username, and check the Network Radar to see which of the three has the easiest target right now.

If you have a NerdOCTAxe or Nexus S1 (~10-11 TH/s)

This is the realistic small-chain sweet spot: days to a few weeks per block on BC2/BCH2, around a month on XEC. Watch the Radar — the best moment to be on a small chain is just after it drops difficulty.

If you have one S21 / S21+ / S21 Pro

BCH is the mature, liquid choice at a ~3.5-month mean to a ~$600 block: bch.solofury.com:7070. If you’d rather see blocks land often, the same rig clears the small chains in hours to days.

If you have multiple S21+ or any S21 XP Hydro / S23

BCH primary, with a small portion (10-20%) on XEC for variance. With 5+ rigs you’re looking at roughly 1-2 BCH blocks per month on average plus regular XEC payouts — no longer a lottery, more a small, irregular paycheck.

If you have hashrate to burn (industrial scale)

BTC only starts to make sense at serious scale — and even ~10 PH/s is still a ~2-year mean to a Bitcoin block, so below that, BCH remains the better expected value. The one reason to pick BTC at smaller scale is if you specifically want to hold BTC; even then you’d usually do better mining BCH and converting at finding time.

If you have no hardware

Rent, and target a chain where your hashes have real odds. A bounded budget buys you a genuine shot — just remember the EV is negative at current prices, so size it as entertainment, not investment.

The price-moonshot argument (and why we keep it separate)

Some miners pick a coin betting the price will explode. Maybe it will — we’re not financial advisors, and neither is anyone on social media pretending to be. But solo mining is already a probability bet: you’re already gambling on finding a block. Stacking a second bet — that the coin moons before you sell — turns a patient hunt into a casino with extra steps, and each layer of speculation cuts your expected value if you don’t size it carefully.

If you genuinely believe in a coin’s long-term value, mine it and hold it. But choose your mining coin based on what your hashrate can realistically catch, not on price predictions. Let price do whatever price does — the math doesn’t care about your bags.

The bottom line

Solo mining isn’t get-rich-quick. It’s a long, patient hunt where the math rewards the miners who pointed the right hashrate at the right chain and waited longer than was comfortable. Hardware, hashrate, chain, time — match them honestly to your reality and the rewards arrive on their own schedule. The rest is noise.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the best coin to solo mine in 2026?

It depends entirely on your hashrate. Small open-source devices (Bitaxe, NerdQAxe) do best on XEC, BC2 and BCH2; an S21-class rig has realistic BCH odds (a few months per block); BTC only makes sense at industrial scale. There’s no single “best coin” — only the best match for your hardware.

Can a Bitaxe still find BC2 or BCH2 blocks every day?

Not anymore. Those chains grew substantially in 2026 — BC2 alone expanded roughly 30× — so a single small Bitaxe now averages weeks to months per block there rather than days. They’re still far more accessible than Bitcoin, but the old “daily blocks on a Bitaxe” advice is outdated. Stacked devices (NerdOCTAxe, Nexus S1) still do well in days to weeks.

What can an Antminer S21+ realistically mine solo?

On BCH, an S21+ averages around 110 days (3-4 months) to a block worth roughly $600. On the smaller chains — XEC, BC2, BCH2 — the same rig finds blocks in hours to days. BCH is the mature, liquid sweet spot; the small chains are where you see frequent action.

Is solo mining Bitcoin ever worth it?

Only at industrial scale. Even ~10 PH/s averages about two years to a BTC block, and anything smaller is a multi-thousand-year lottery. Below serious scale, BCH offers far better expected value — mine that and convert if you want BTC exposure, unless you’re playing the BTC lottery purely for fun.

Should I rent hashrate to solo mine?

You can, and it’s the only way to mine without owning hardware. But at current coin prices the expected value of a short rental is negative — you’re paying for a shot, not buying profit. It can be a fun, bounded gamble if you set a budget you can afford to lose; it isn’t an income strategy.

How do I know which chain has the best odds right now?

Check the live Network Radar, which shows current difficulty, hashrate and retarget timing for every supported SHA-256 chain. The small chains move week to week, and the best moment to mine one is often just after it drops difficulty — a static table can’t capture that, but the Radar can.

How much is a BC2, BCH2 or XEC block worth?

Modest amounts: a BC2 or BCH2 block (50 coins) is worth roughly $9 at current prices, and an XEC block nets the solver around $10 after the protocol’s reward split. The appeal of these chains is frequency and accessibility, not headline reward size.

Does the coin’s price matter when choosing what to mine?

Choose primarily by what your hashrate can catch, not by price speculation. Picking a coin because you think it will moon stacks a second bet on top of an already-probabilistic activity. If you believe in a coin long-term, mine and hold it — but let the hashrate-to-difficulty math drive the choice.