Zcash Mining Revenue Per Megawatt Tops Bitcoin by Fourfold

Overview

• Grayscale reported on September 11 that Zcash miners earn about $2 million a day in gross rewards compared with roughly $35 million for Bitcoin and that ZEC pays about twice as much per rig and about four times as much per megawatt-hour as Bitcoin.
• Strong ZEC price gains in 2026, including a surge above $1,000 on September 4, have encouraged miners to add equipment and pushed the Zcash hash rate more than 2.5 times higher this year.
• Grayscale converted its Zcash Trust into an NYSE Arca-listed ETP under ticker ZCSH on August 25 with a 2.5% sponsor fee and the fund held about $313.5 million before listing, while a DCG affiliate noted nonbinding interest in roughly 200,000 ZEC.
• Those Grayscale revenue comparisons are gross figures and actual miner profits will vary after accounting for electricity costs, cooling and maintenance, the Equihash-specific hardware Zcash uses that cannot be moved to Bitcoin mining, and rising mining difficulty.
• The SEC closed its probe of the Zcash Foundation in January with no enforcement recommendation, and analysts warn that ZEC’s price volatility and higher difficulty from added hash power could quickly change mining economics and investor returns.