Bitaxe Gamma review: the open-source miner to start with

In 2023, Skot, an engineer who goes by a pseudonym, launched the Bitaxe after studying how Bitmain’s chips work. His goal: an open-source miner, against manufacturers like Bitmain and MicroBT, who share most of the market and publish nothing. The design is on GitHub: anyone can build, modify or improve the machine.

Development is funded by the community: part of the sales goes to Open Source Miners United (OSMU), which gathers developers and miners around the project.

• Bitaxe Ultra (2023): the first consumer model, one BM1366 chip, about 500 GH/s for fifteen-odd watts.
• Bitaxe Gamma 601 (August 2024): the BM1370 chip, about 1.2 TH/s, an OLED screen and built-in Wi-Fi. The one in this review.
• Bitaxe Supra Hex: six BM1368 chips, for more hashrate in the same family.

They all use Bitmain chips, new or salvaged, with the same open software.

At stock settings, the Gamma runs at about 1.2 TH/s for 15 to 18 W, around 15 J/TH: the efficiency of the latest industrial machines, for the power draw of an internet box. A regulator adjusts the voltage continuously and a small fan cools the chip.

Over a year, at €0.20 per kWh, expect about €32 of electricity at stock settings.

It runs on a 5 V 6 A power supply. On first boot, the screen shows the name of a temporary Wi-Fi network: connect to it from a phone or a computer, then open AxeOS, its web interface, to enter your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, your Bitcoin address and the pool. If the page does not open by itself, type msftconnecttest.com in the browser: the redirect brings it up.

The dashboard then shows live hashrate, temperatures, reject rate and uptime. The full walkthrough, with the settings to mine solo: Set up a Bitaxe.

AxeOS lets you raise the chip’s frequency and voltage. With good cooling you reach about 1.5 TH/s for 22 W, and up to 1.8 TH/s around 35 W for the bold. Above 70 °C the chip protects itself by slowing down: a better fan, a Noctua for example, becomes a must.

Go up in small steps and watch the temperature at each one. Scripts can test stability and suggest the best settings on their own; I show them in this video (in French).

• Updates: download the esp-miner.bin file from GitHub and upload it from AxeOS. Details: Update AxeOS.
• Bitaxe Viewer, a Chrome extension that finds every Bitaxe on your local network and shows their figures.
• An online flasher to reinstall the software from the browser, with the Bitaxe plugged in over USB-C.
• Maintenance: dust the fan regularly and back up your settings.

At 1.2 TH/s, about 1 chance in 16,000 per year solo, and about 1 in 10,600 with a pushed overclock (network as of 17 October 2026). It is small, but it happens: Bitaxes have already found whole blocks, the first one in July 2024. Blocks found solo, updated daily.

This is the miner I recommend to start with. For about €60 you get a modern chip, open software you can read and change, and a whole community to help. It will not make anyone rich: it is a way to understand Bitcoin hands-on and to try your luck, at your own scale.

For more hashrate without leaving open source, look at the Gamma GT or the NerdQX 8T.