Bitcoin vs Zcash: Grayscale Reveals Which Is More Profitable to Mine
Zcash mining has become significantly more profitable than Bitcoin mining for individuals. That is the finding of a new analysis from Grayscale Research.
Research director Zach Pandl found that Bitcoin dominates in total scale. ZEC, however, currently delivers stronger returns per machine and per unit of electricity consumed.
Zcash $ZEC mining is taking off
— Zach Pandl (@LowBeta) September 11, 2026
Compared to Bitcoin, Zcash mining rewards are currently ~2x higher per machine and ~4x higher per MWh
Blog post from Grayscale Research ⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/l9l0ThpGIk
Bitcoin Wins on Scale, Zcash Wins on Efficiency
Bitcoin miners collectively earn approximately $35 million in daily rewards, according to Grayscale, far exceeding the roughly $2 million Zcash miners generate. That gap reflects Bitcoin’s vastly larger network and hashrate.
The picture flips at the level of the individual operator, however. Grayscale estimates a typical Zcash mining rig delivers roughly twice the daily revenue of a comparable Bitcoin machine.
On a power-consumption basis, the advantage widens further: Zcash mining generates about 4x the revenue per megawatt-hour relative to Bitcoin, in some cases even exceeding returns from certain AI and high-performance computing cloud services.
That elevated profitability traces largely to ZEC’s strong price performance. The privacy coin crossed $1,000 for the first time in nearly a decade on September 4 and now trades near $1,177, up nearly 15% over the past week.
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Higher prices have drawn in additional mining capacity, with standardized hashrate metrics showing that Zcash’s total mining activity has risen more than 2.5x year-to-date.
Why a Direct Comparison Remains Difficult
Bitcoin and Zcash rely on entirely different mining hardware. Bitcoin uses SHA-256 ASICs, while Zcash depends on Equihash-optimized machines, meaning operators cannot simply redirect the same equipment toward whichever chain looks more profitable that week.
Grayscale’s figures also measure revenue rather than net profit. Actual earnings depend heavily on electricity costs, hardware prices, cooling, and maintenance.
The findings point to what Grayscale frames as a self-reinforcing dynamic: attractive mining economics draw more computational power, strengthening network security and supporting sustained investor interest.
Grayscale itself converted its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF, ZCSH, which listed on NYSE Arca on August 25 and had already gathered more than $500 million in assets within two weeks.
Mining remains a volatile business regardless of which network looks more attractive on paper. Rising network difficulty, fluctuating electricity costs, and the price swings inherent to both assets mean today’s favorable Zcash economics could compress just as quickly as they emerged.
Operators weighing where to deploy capital would need to factor in those risks alongside the efficiency gap Grayscale has highlighted.
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