Two Bitcoin blocks in one day, years of EasyMining experience, and plenty of lessons along the way. We spoke with the miner behind EasyMining blocks #202 and #203. Mining one Bitcoin block through solo mining is already an extraordinary moment. Mining two in a single day is something else entirely. Recently, one NiceHash EasyMining user did exactly that, mining Bitcoin blocks #202 and #203 found through EasyMining within just a few blocks of each other.

But the story didn't start that day....

The two-block day

1. Let’s start with the obvious one: you mined two Bitcoin blocks with EasyMining in a single day. What was your first reaction when you realized you had found the first one?

When I saw the alert it was a shot of adrenalin.  My heart started to race, my hands trembled, I logging in to make sure it was real.

2. And then came the second block. Did you actually believe it when you saw that you had found another one just a few blocks later?

It happened so fast, I was already shocked by mining a block and then the second block came as a huge surprise.  After the first block came I decided I was going to let the 10 Gold L orders run their course instead of stopping them.  I had about 2 hours left and setup 5 Gold M orders as kind of a way to give back to the miners.  I don't know if that makes any sense, but I didn't have any expectation for another block, but then it happened.  I was confused by what I saw being posted by the community on discord.  Someone said something about another block and I didn't get any real reaction to that because I was confused.  After I checked my account I was floored, it was like a total rush.  A soothing calm spread over me which was a very different physical reaction from the first block. 

3. Your blocks became the 202nd and 203rd Bitcoin blocks mined through NiceHash EasyMining. Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you found out about each block?

That day I had setup multiple orders and went to dinner with family.  When I returned home I realized that I hadn't checked the progress.  Then I saw the first notification and sat down to make sure what I was seeing was real.  After the second block I was on a natural high, it's hard to describe now thinking about it.

EasyMining journey

4. How long have you been using EasyMining, and what originally made you decide to try it?

I have been using EasyMining for a few years now.  I started in early 2023.  My crypto journey started when I was training a new coworker for a large project.  My coworker who I had only just met started up a conversation with me about crypto.  He explained about how he built this crazy pc at home that had multiple graphics cards.  After he showed me pictures of his rig I was hooked.  I got into eth mining at the tail end when gpu costs were outrageous but that didn't stop me from diving head first and building my own multiple gpu, multiple power supply mining pc.  It started out as just a gaming PC and ended up as a mismatched mess of 8 GPUs and 4 power supplies in a home built enclosure.  I think I earned maybe 0.25 eth using a few different mining pools.  The profits weren't enough to cover the cost of the gpus, but it was a lot of fun building and optimizing.

I've gotten into multiple crypto projects and gained and lost thousands of dollars.  But then my friend from work told me about NiceHash and I pointed my GPU's to earning some btc and then I learned about Easy Mining.  Easy Mining gave me the idea that since I couldn't have all that hash power myself at home then maybe I could boost my hash power footprint by renting it.  I buckled up for a wild ride not knowing where I would end up, but I was all in.  I would try a few medium orders on my work breaks and check back in later.

5. Before these two blocks, what had your experience with EasyMining been like? Had you already mined any blocks, or were these your first major wins?

I have mined litecoin and doge blocks as well as a few bitcoincash blocks but I would also throw a few Gold M orders in the mix.  I have to give credit to another miner who claimed to have mined a bitcoin block before and shared their strategy of running a Gold L and a few Gold M orders together each week.  This is where things got serious.  By this time in early 2023 I started having health issues and work became much more difficult.  I had mined some smaller blocks but I made the decision that I would focus on bitcoin only.  I started out following the pattern of 1 Gold L and 3 or 4 Gold M orders each week.  The price of bitcoin was around $27,000 then and as my budget allowed I would ramp up to a 2 or 3 Gold L orders each week.  Many months went by without anything but then everything changed, I had mined my first bitcoin block, the jackpot!  I remember very vividly my reaction to that first block.  My heartrate shot up from the adrenalin hit, I was so excited that all those months of solo mining had finally paid off.  It was late at night and my family was all asleep.  I had to go for a walk to calm myself down as I was having what I can best describe as a panic attack and it took an hour to settle down after that.  I have successfully solo mined multiple bitcoin blocks now with EasyMining.  Looking back that's hard to believe.  I started out small, gained confidence then accepted the risk of solo mining.

When I mined my first bitcoin block in 2023 it was with a Gold L running at just over 20PHs.  Now Gold M runs at about that same speed just over 20PHs.  Over just 3 years the network has changed and keeping up with it would be much harder if I was running my own miners.  That's another reason I like EasyMining.  I effortlessly and without actually thinking about it kept up with the network, just by buying the same EasyMining Gold orders.

6. Have you ever mined Bitcoin with your own hardware, or has EasyMining been your main way of participating in Bitcoin mining? What appeals to you about this way of mining?

The very first crypto block that I mined was a smaller crypto block with my GPU's.  I believe that was worth $80 at the time.  I do have a 9THs bitcoin miner that I've been running fairly consistently without success as this is such a small hash power relative to the total network and chances are extremely slim.

EasyMining has been the majority of my focus.  I have experimented mining to other pools and attempted solo mining to them and I've come close with some fairly high difficulty shares but never enough to mine a block, maybe if I was more consistent with those attempts it could happen.  I find that EasyMining is truly the easiest option.  I got familiar and comfortable with the process of buying bitcoin on an exchange and using lightning network to send it to NiceHash, then shortly after confirming the transaction that I could setup my orders for the day.  I like having hash power on demand.  EasyMining has given me the opportunity to mine bitcoin blocks without the huge costs of buying and operating my own bitcoin machines.  I've considered running larger miners however it just hasn't made sense to me yet.  The idea of owning and operating my own small bitcoin mining operation would be a dream.  But then I consider just buying and holding bitcoin and also running more EasyMining orders works better for me right now.  Maybe in the future I will have a respectable hash power given the right space and location.

Strategy, risk and persistence

7. How do you normally decide when to mine and which EasyMining package to choose? Is there a strategy behind it, or do you mostly stick to a routine?

I do have some conditions that I think makes sense before big attempts but after reading, listening and learning from the other miners it seems so random that my best strategy is to be consistent and stay within your budget.  There is an ebb and flow to the network block times and at least in my mind it seems that riding that wave down seems like the best shot for a solo miner who has to choose a limited window of time to mine as opposed to another miner with a consistent constant hashrate.  I have thought that I could brute force the next block without success.  I completely ignored my budget and had the false notion that would work.  It might work or it might not, you end up regretting it.  Sticking to a routine and 100% accepting that this is solo mining, the chances are small, you have to accept the risk, what you put in may never return.  There's a website that has a list of solo mined blocks.  When I look at that site for my blocks it says that I've been unlucky based on my number of blocks and estimated hashrate.  If I had a constant average hashrate I should have had more blocks than what I've actually mined.  I don't know how accurate that is, but what that tells me is that overtime I would have been better off with a more consistent plan.  Of course that's probably base only on current conditions and can't keep a running calculation as network hashrate increases over time.

8. You’ve said that understanding network hashrate can help, but that luck and determination are still major factors. How much attention do you personally pay to network conditions before buying a package?

If there was a pattern it would have been found and that would undermine the process of mining blocks.  The fact that it's random makes it more secure I believe.  We attempt to find a pattern and try to increase our odds, and sometimes I feel like I'm going to miss my spot if I can't get the funds in place in time but I also take the opposite approach and take a chance without checking the current conditions.

9. You also mentioned learning some expensive lessons along the way. What is the biggest lesson you would share with someone who is starting with EasyMining?

There have been a few big lessons.  I've won and lost a lot of money with bitcoin.  I only mined my first block after making a plan and staying consistent, but then after my first block I forgot my plan and went back to many large attempts back to back, blowing my budget all in one day instead of spreading it out over the month.  There was a very distinct day I remember thinking to myself, the best choice right now is to do nothing and I didn't listen.  Your budget is personal and you should stick to it.  

10. After actually winning blocks, how do you balance the temptation to keep mining with knowing when to take profits and stop?

Once the bitcoin hits your account it is very easy to convince yourself that it's an endless supply and that you can double it, you did it once and you can do it again.  As you start to allocate funds to various things in your life it quickly spreads thin.  Maybe you can increase your budget but you should still stick with your budget.  That is easier said than done.  The hardest part is being patient.  I mean being patient for the price of bitcoin for when to sell some to pay bills or pay off debt and saving some for taxes.  Being patient for when to take on more risk again.  I've had to balance work, family, my health issues, bills and debts.  I made a plan and for the most part stuck with it.  I've stumbled and tripped along the way, made mistakes multiple times and learned from those mistakes.  I kick myself thinking I could have made better use of those funds.  If I had only held it longer, if I had only stuck to my budget I would have a lot more right now.  I do give myself limits.  I now say I'll never go below this set amount of bitcoin.  And after each block I'll set a new limit and stick with that.

After 202 & 203

11. Finally, after mining two Bitcoin blocks in one day: are you going for #204?

I've been extremely lucky!  I'm very thankful for my friend who introduced me to crypto.  I'm also so thankful to NiceHash and EasyMining.  I'm just a regular guy taking a chance. I'm thankful for the community of crypto miners who share their knowledge and experience.

I wish everyone luck in mining the next block!  And yes, I am trying to mine the next block!