⛏️ Dig Where the Ground Is Soft

GM, Happy Friday!

Everyone can use a friend, and this week we sat down with @YourFriendAndy to make a new one (and to talk about Bitcoin mining). 

Turns out DePIN mining in 2026 feels a lot like early Bitcoin mining. 👀

We’re about to dive in, but first, let’s get a bird’s-eye view of this issue.

🛰️ On the Radar

🎙️ Your Friend Andy joined The Relay to break down Bitcoin mining, solo wins, and why leaning in now matters most. 

⛏️ DePIN device mining in 2026 looks a lot like Bitcoin mining in 2013. Soft ground, early window.

💰 Solo miners keep hitting six-figure block rewards, proving the lottery can still pay.

📡 The Relay

Founder of Sleep Money Club and one of the most honest voices in the passive income space, Andy has amassed 140k+ YouTube subscribers by sharing his Bitcoin mining journey. He started by buying six machines at the top of the 2022 cycle – overpaying, as he’ll readily admit – and has stacked just over 4 BTC over 4 years of hosted mining (At current prices, that’s almost $300k).

The part that got us fired up, though, was his deep dive into solo mining. Andy informed us that over the past year, on ~20 occasions, solo miners have mined an entire Bitcoin block. This means that each of these solo miners, often with low hashrate (low input costs), took home the full Bitcoin block reward, >3.15 BTC, the equivalent of ~$200,000. 

Several of these blocks were mined with a Bitaxe, a small $100 lottery miner (think Powerball with better odds), that gives deployers the chance to mine a Bitcoin block on their own. The odds are lottery-ticket slim, but they're non-zero, and they're hitting more often than most people realize.

Andy's bigger point stuck with us: the worst thing you can do right now is close off and wait. 

Every cycle rewards the people who leaned in when it felt pointless.

And nowadays, you can get started for under $100.

📺 Watch the full broadcast: https://x.com/The_Relay_/status/2044432166281711965 

👉 Follow Andy: @YourFriendAndy on X | YouTube

🔨 Proof of Work, Proof of Patience

DePIN is the new Bitcoin mining.

Step back to the year 2013. People were mining a few Bitcoins from their bedrooms using only their graphics card and good old-fashioned patience.

But patience is the trickiest part.

Between face-melting bear markets, failed rigs that smell like burned-out hardware, and a crowd of speculators chanting "this is dumb, just buy the coin,” most folks gave up along the way. 

DePIN device mining today feels largely the same. 

The hardware is cheap, the networks are early, and there’s a lingering (yet loud) skepticism around the entire concept. 

Those with patience remain unbothered. 

Look at folks like DePIN Nomad, running a fully solar-powered off-grid setup that mines Wingbits and GEODNET tokens simultaneously from a field near the Tallahassee airport. Legends like these are the 2013 Bitcoin miners of this cycle.

But this isn’t Bitcoin. In DePIN, choosing networks with real revenue and real-world demand is essential.

Token-printing schemes, "ecosystem plays," and Web3 narratives all quickly lose their luster.

What actually holds long-term value? 

Infrastructure that’s relied on by communities, businesses, and governments.

At The Relay, we’re not about pitching get-rich-quick schemes.

You don't need to win the Bitcoin block lottery to build your fortune.

You just need DePIN hardware that powers genuinely valuable infrastructure.

And, of course, a bit of patience. 

🔊 Signal Boost

Need some additional pep in your DePIN step this week? We have you covered with the industry’s best stories. 👇

⛏️ Solo Miners Keep Winning — Can distributed systems replace lottery tickets? For some folks, the answer seems to be “yes.” In February, a solo miner rented $75 of Bitcoin hashpower and hit a $200,000 block reward. Just this week, another took home $210,000 running just 230 TH/s from home. 

⚡ Industrial Miners Feel the Squeeze — Rising energy costs have pushed public miners to offload roughly 61,000 BTC in recent weeks. Riot, MARA, and others are de-risking and feeling the pain that comes with it. Remember: patience is the name of the game. 

🚁 Hyfix Raises $15M — @mikeahorton's Hyfix just closed a $15M round to build American-made chips for drones and robotics, a direct play at DJI's dominance. Bullish for Hyfix, bullish for @GEODNET by extension, and bullish for U.S. infrastructure resilience.

🧅 ANyONE Protocol Hits 4,000 Exit Relays — @AnyoneFDN is now, per their own announcement, the largest onion routing network globally by exit relays. Real privacy infrastructure, real demand, real DePIN.

💸 Dabba Network TGE — @DabbaNetwork's $DBT token went onchain this week. Wireless infrastructure with a real deployer base. Worth a look if you've been watching the space. 

👋 Signing Off

The ground is softer than it looks, but not for long. Every DePIN cycle has an early window, and the people deploying now will be the ones telling stories at the next conference about how they saw it coming.

🔁 Share this issue if it hit,

📡 Catch The Relay every Wednesday, and

🐦 Follow @Matt and @Will on X for more.

We'll catch you next Friday! Peace out. 👊