Zcash (ZEC) climbed to $979 on Thursday, gaining nearly 17% in 24 hours as the cryptocurrency’s sharp price appreciation pushed mining profitability higher and drove network hashrate close to record levels.
ZEC has gained 64.7% over the past two weeks and 88.1% against the US dollar over 30 days. Over six months, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency has risen approximately 353%.
The price surge has improved the economics for Zcash miners, encouraging additional computational power to enter the network. Bitcoin.com News previously reported Zcash operating at around 27.87 GSol/s.
Zcash Hashrate Reaches 27.9 GSol/s as Mining Economics Improve
Zcash uses the Equihash proof-of-work algorithm, with miners competing to solve computational puzzles to secure the network.
CoinWarz data showed Zcash’s hashrate reached 27.9 GSol/s on Aug. 28 at block height 3,463,689, following a mining report published on Aug. 25.
By Sept. 3, network computational power stood at roughly 91% of its all-time high, according to CoinWarz data.
The correlation between ZEC’s price and mining economics has become increasingly visible. Higher ZEC prices raise the potential dollar value of mining rewards, improving incentives for operators to deploy specialized hardware.
Bitmain Z15 Pro Leads Zcash ASIC Profitability
Bitmain’s Antminer Z15 Pro currently ranks as the most profitable Zcash ASIC based on data from ASIC Miner Value.
The Z15 Pro delivers approximately 840 KSol/s, double the roughly 420 KSol/s output of the original Antminer Z15.
At the reported ZEC price, ASIC Miner Value estimated that the Z15 Pro could generate approximately $59.09 in daily profit, while the Z15 could produce around $29.25 per day.
Those estimates assume electricity costs of $0.10 per kilowatt-hour and can change rapidly as ZEC prices and network conditions fluctuate.
Bitmain’s website showed the Z15 Pro and older Z15 unavailable for purchase, while resellers identified by Bitcoin.com News were offering Z15 Pro units above Bitmain’s $4,999 list price.
The Antminer Z15K, which produces approximately 525 KSol/s, was also unavailable through Bitmain’s store and carried an estimated daily profit of $35.14 at prevailing ZEC prices.
ZEC Rally Could Keep Attracting Hashpower — Until Economics Change
The current mining surge highlights the direct relationship between cryptocurrency prices and proof-of-work network security.
When ZEC becomes more valuable relative to electricity and hardware costs, miners have stronger incentives to allocate capital toward Zcash-compatible ASICs.
However, mining profitability remains variable rather than guaranteed. ASIC Miner Value estimates can change with ZEC’s market price, network difficulty and electricity expenses.
A sustained ZEC correction could therefore compress mining margins and make some machines uneconomical, potentially removing a portion of the recently added hashpower from the network.
The same profitability dynamic extends beyond Zcash. Monero (XMR), another privacy-focused cryptocurrency, also appears among the most profitable ASIC-mining opportunities in the referenced profitability data.
For Zcash, the immediate market signal remains clear: the combination of a roughly 353% six-month price increase, near-record hashrate and elevated ASIC returns has created unusually strong economic incentives for miners.
Yet the durability of that mining boom will ultimately depend on whether ZEC’s price can sustain the economics that attracted the additional hashpower in the first place.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments are volatile and risky. Always conduct your research before making any investment decisions.
