A novel bitcoin mining pool known as Parasite Pool has successfully validated its hybrid mining model by recently mining its second block, identified as block 945,601. This achievement comes approximately 48 days after the pool mined its first block, block #938,713, in late February 2025. The most recent block contained 7,398 transactions, accompanied by a fee of 0.002 BTC during a trading period where bitcoin was valued at $76,213.
Unlike most traditional mining pools that either follow an industrial pay-per-share model or a purely lottery-based approach, Parasite Pool operates on a distinctive hybrid mechanism. The creator of the pool, who goes by the pseudonym ZK Shark, is also known for launching the Ordinal Maxi Biz NFT collection on Bitcoin. This mining pool aims to cater specifically to home miners, a demographic often overshadowed by large-scale industrial operations.
Under Parasite Pool’s setup, the miner who completes a block receives a finder’s fee of 1 BTC outright. The remaining 2.125 BTC plus any transaction fees are then allocated proportionally across all pool participants based on the shares they have submitted since the last successful block. At the same time, the pool imposes no participation fees, and all payouts are facilitated through the Lightning Network, enhancing transaction efficiency.
Mining, by its nature, requires significant computational resources to solve complex cryptographic puzzles roughly every 10 minutes, rewarding the successful miner with the opportunity to add the next block of transactions to the blockchain along with associated rewards. Currently, this reward sits at 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees, totalling around $238,000. This figure has halved from the previous reward of 6.25 BTC following an event in April 2024, and another reduction is anticipated in 2028.
Typically, mining activities are dominated by industrial players with large-scale facilities that utilize specialized ASIC hardware. These operations consume substantial energy, often equivalent to that of small cities. Mining pools were established as a way to mitigate the unpredictability of block discovery, allowing participants to combine their hashrate and share the rewards based on their contributions rather than following a winner-take-all model.
Parasite Pool’s approach serves as a middle ground between pure solo pools, such as CKpool, which offer full block rewards to individual finders while deducting a 2% fee. However, the mathematical reality often means that the vast majority of participants in such pools do not witness substantial returns.
The recent second block mined by Parasite Pool is significant as it demonstrates sustained hashrate throughout the 48-day period since the previous payout. The pool’s current hashrate stands at 52 petahashes per second, a decrease from a June 2025 peak of 182 PH/s. This figure represents about 0.005% of Bitcoin’s overall estimated hashrate, which is approximately 1 zetahash.
The landscape for small-scale and solo mining has been increasingly dynamic. Earlier this year, notable instances included a home miner operating at 230 terahashes per second who successfully claimed block 943,411, yielding a reward of $210,000. Separately, another operator managed to validate block 938,092 via CKpool using just $75 worth of rented cloud hashrate, receiving a payout of $200,000. Both incidents reflect the potential for substantial rewards in the sphere of small-pool mining while adhering to the traditional winner-take-all structure.
Parasite Pool now stands as a unique experiment, seeking to determine if its hybrid mining model encourages ongoing participation during dry spells. If the pool manages to mine a third block in the coming two months, it could solidify the success of its model. Conversely, an extended period without further blocks could indicate that the initial successful outputs were anomalies in a challenging mining environment.
