Bitcoin mining hardware is expanding into retail stores as Futurebit partners with electronics retailer Micro Center to sell its Apollo III home mining machines. The partnership marks Futurebit's first entry into physical retail, with initial availability at four U.S. locations beginning November 13: Brooklyn, New York; Miami, Florida; Tustin, California; and Austin, Texas. Customers can also reserve machines online for in-store pickup.
The Apollo III is a desktop-sized mining system powered by 3-nanometer ASIC chips that deliver up to 18 terahash per second (TH/s) in Turbo mode. The device incorporates a full Bitcoin node, built-in solo mining capabilities, an eight-core ARM processor, 8GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage. In Eco mode, the machine offers efficiency of up to 15 joules per terahash.
The retail expansion arrives as solo miners have gained attention for discovering Bitcoin blocks despite facing extraordinarily unfavorable odds. A solo miner operating through CKPool discovered block 975427 in late 2026, collecting a Bitcoin reward. The discovery marked the 38th documented solo-mining victory of 2026. In late October, a Futurebit Apollo miner was credited with discovering block 973262, marking the fourth documented solo block from the company's hardware.
Such victories remain exceptionally rare. With Bitcoin's network computing power around 1,000 exahash per second, an individual Apollo III operating at its maximum 18 TH/s represents only a tiny fraction of the total network hashrate. Continuous operation could mean decades or centuries between statistically expected block discoveries.
Futurebit argues that making independent mining and node operation accessible to ordinary consumers can help distribute Bitcoin's infrastructure beyond the industrial mining companies and major pools that currently dominate the network.
