Zcash Mining Revenue Tops Bitcoin by More Than 4x, Reaching $727 per MWh

Zcash miners are currently earning about $727 in revenue for every megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity consumed, far outpacing Bitcoin on the same power basis. By comparison, Bitcoin mining using an Antminer S23 Pro generates roughly $162 per MWh, implying Zcash delivers more than four times the revenue per unit of electricity. According to analysis cited by TheEnergyMag, Zcash's economics also exceed a common benchmark in high-performance computing (HPC) colocation, estimated at about $222 per MWh. That colocation rate reflects what data centers typically earn by leasing rack space for AI and cloud workloads—a line of business many Bitcoin miners have been leaning into as a hedge. Price action is the main catalyst behind the spread. ZEC has been trading around $800 to $890, marking a sharp recovery after years below its 2018 peaks. In one week of 2026, ZEC posted a 68.7% gain, a move large enough to reset mining profitability models quickly. On the hardware side, much of the output is attributed to Bitmain's Z15 Pro ASIC, built specifically for Equihash, the algorithm securing Zcash's proof-of-work network. Earlier in 2026, before the rally fully took hold, estimated mining revenue ranged from $373 to $769 per MWh. The latest $727 reading sits in the upper half of that band, suggesting profitability is being supported by sustained pricing rather than a one-day spike. Institutional interest is also emerging. Cypherpunk Technologies completed a $33.33 million equity financing on August 18, 2026, and used the proceeds to acquire 4.2 gigasols per second of hashrate. The purchase equates to about 18% of Zcash's total network hashing capacity. Zcash, launched in 2016, is positioned as a privacy-focused digital asset that uses zero-knowledge proofs to obscure transaction details. Sensitivity to price remains significant. A 50% decline in ZEC would pull revenue per MWh down to roughly the $360 range—still above Bitcoin's current level, but without today's outsized premium. A return to 2024-era pricing, when ZEC traded well below $100, would leave the Z15 Pro largely uneconomic.