Zcash Miners Quietly Crushing Bitcoin on Profitability

Amidst the ongoing price appreciation of ZCash (ZEC), the privacy coin’s miners are also experiencing a major redemption arc. ZEC mining is currently significantly more profitable than Bitcoin mining, especially at the individual level, according to a recent analysis by Grayscale and a few other reporting agencies.

Grayscale tweeted:

Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s current head of research, pointed out that BTC miners pocket around $35 million of crypto daily, compared to just $2 million for ZCash miners. However, the former has tens of billions of dollars in hardware and real estate investments and needs access to cheap electricity to operate effectively.

ZCash, on the other hand, is a much smaller network with a hashrate a fraction of BTC’s. Despite that, Zcash mining rewards are currently around 2x higher per mining rig and roughly four times higher per megawatt-hour (MWh) than Bitcoin, Grayscale points out. 

The Experiment

The test was carried out using the latest mining hardware, Bitmain S23 Hydro for BTC and Bitmain Z15 Pro for Zcash, and was conducted on September 9, 2026. The results showed that ZEC is currently much more profitable to mine, especially after the latest price increase. 

However, the privacy coin’s advantages didn’t stop there, as in some instances its returns were better than returns available from certain artificial intelligence and high-performance computing cloud services.

“At current valuations, Zcash mining can be highly profitable. This is encouraging more mining activity, which in turn supports network security,” Pandl stated.

Both ZCash and BTC use Proof of Work (PoW) algorithms for mining, an old-school yet effective way to secure a crypto network. Both are energy-intensive systems, and if ZEC can scale effectively, it might face the same criticism as BTC has done over the years. In comparison, most other networks like Ethereum, Solana, and others have moved to a Proof of Stake (PoS) mining approach that uses less energy but is not nearly as effective. 

The Future

Zcash’s recent success has once again propelled it into the spotlight. It is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that is banned in most countries, and according to its users, it is doing what BTC was supposed to do but was ultimately taken over by mining corporations. ZEC recently went past $1,000 in a major move that has drummed up interest in the token.

However, Zcash has had a turbulent last year or so. It tends to show volatile price movements, sparking discussion before eventually undergoing a major price squeeze that traps buyers on the wrong side of the equation. Investors are advised to stay vigilant and keep the bigger picture in mind, rather than treating it as a get-rich-quick scheme.