Zcash reached an intraday high of $979 on Thursday, rising by almost 17% in 24 hours as the cryptocurrency’s sharp price gains increased mining profitability and pushed network hashrate close to its record level.
ZEC, the native token of the privacy-focused Zcash network, was trading at about $979 at 15:30 Eastern time. Its value has climbed 64.7% over the past two weeks and is up 88.1% against the US dollar over the past 30 days. Over six months, ZEC has gained about 353%.
The sustained rise in price has attracted more computing power to the network. Zcash’s hashrate was recently reported at 27.87 GSol/s, before data from coinwarz.com showed it reached a peak of 27.9 GSol/s on 28 August, at block height 3,463,689.
Hashrate measures the amount of computational power being used to secure and operate a proof-of-work blockchain. Zcash uses the Equihash algorithm, under which miners compete to solve computational puzzles. One GSol/s represents one billion solutions per second.
As of 3 September, Zcash’s network was operating at 91% of its all-time hashrate high. The increase has coincided with the surge in ZEC’s dollar value, which has made mining the cryptocurrency significantly more lucrative.
Mining hardware demand and profitability
The most profitable application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miner listed on Thursday was Bitmain’s Antminer Z15 Pro, a machine designed to mine Zcash. It is an upgraded version of the original Antminer Z15.
The Z15 Pro produces about 840 KSol/s, twice the output of the older model, which operates at approximately 420 KSol/s. However, neither machine was available through Bitmain’s online shop. Resellers were offering the Z15 Pro at prices above Bitmain’s listed price of $4,999.
Based on current ZEC prices, the Z15 Pro was estimated by asicminervalue.com to generate about $59.09 in daily profit. The original Z15 was estimated to make approximately $29.25 per day, placing it fourth among the highest-earning ASIC miners available across the market.
Bitmain’s mid-range Antminer Z15K produces 525 KSol/s and was estimated to earn around $35.14 per day at current ZEC prices. That model was also unavailable from Bitmain’s shop.
The third most profitable ASIC miner was reported to be a machine mining monero (XMR), another privacy-focused cryptocurrency that has also recorded a substantial rise in value.
Mining returns remain tied to price
The increase in mining activity appears to be driven primarily by financial returns rather than a broader commitment to the privacy principles associated with Zcash and Monero. As ZEC’s price has risen, its mining rewards have become more attractive, encouraging additional hashpower to join the network.
That trend could reverse quickly if the price falls. Miners can redirect their machines or switch them off when operating costs exceed revenue, meaning much of the computing power currently supporting Zcash could disappear just as rapidly as it arrived.
The wider cryptocurrency market also moved sharply higher on Thursday, taking its total valuation to $2.73tn as expectations faded for…
