Key facts:
- A Youtuber configured a Raspberry Pi Zero to mine Bitcoin.
- Instead of joining a pool, he decided to mine on his own.
In the world of Bitcoin mining, where large server installations abound for a chance at rewards, one intrepid miner proved that the key to success might even lie in an unexpected device: the Raspberry Pi Zero.
According to the youtuber and bitcoiner known as Data Slayer, this minicomputer dedicated to versatile uses was used to build a Bitcoin miner that seeks to beat statistics and odds. This type of miner is not new, it was used in the early years of Bitcoin, when competition between miners was exponentially less. A few years later, its use in Bitcoin became more focused on running nodes.
The uniqueness of the case lies in the use of such a tiny device in the current context of Bitcoin mining. Unlike large mining farms, this unique Bitcoin miner is built around a single Raspberry Pi Zero. It is a small device, but with many components that computers also have, such as a processor, RAM memory, USB ports, network connectivity, microSD card for storage, and video and audio outputs.
The Raspberry Pi Zero is supplemented by a USB peripheral called the Ant Miner. This hardware is specially designed to execute the SHA-256 hashing algorithm, required to solve the complex mathematical operations required in the Bitcoin mining process.
How to mine with a Raspberry Pi?
Data Slayer checked and showed that the profits from joining a mining pool are negligible. This is due to the low hashrate of the small device, close to 2.8 Gh/s.
For this reason, he assures, the best option is to be a solitary miner and wait to “win the lottery”, that is, to find a block on your own. Although it may seem crazy, it is something that some miners have already achieved recently, as reported in Market Times.
The odds of Data Slayer are extremely low: one in a billion per day. Now if you succeed, the block reward alone (excluding transaction fees) would give you 6.25 BTC. That is, approximately USD 171,826.
