Find the ideal Zcash miner for your success

ZecWallet and Ledger Are common wallets for Zcash, which offer high security and data protection features.

Yes, Zcash (ZEC) can be mined and is one of the best-known actively mined privacy coins - it is mined using the Equihash algorithm (variant 200,9) with specialized ASIC miners of the Antminer Z series, which provide computing power around the clock and in return receive new ZEC as a block reward.

In 2026 Zcash has remained a classic proof-of-work coin modeled on Bitcoin: a fixed cap of 21 million coins and a halving roughly every four years. How mining works in detail, what hardware is needed and what matters for pool and wallet is covered in the following questions as well as our Zcash miner overview.

Zcash (ZEC) is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency launched in 2016, known for its privacy features: using the cryptographic method zk-SNARKs, transactions can be carried out shielded, so that sender, recipient and amount remain hidden. Like Bitcoin, the total supply is capped at 21 million coins.

For miners it is relevant that Zcash is mined using the Equihash 200,9 algorithm with specialized ASICs of the Antminer Z series. The privacy feature only concerns the transactions, not the mining itself - the block is generated regardless of whether a payment is transparent or shielded. What lies behind privacy coins we explain in our Zcash miner category.

Zcash relies on Equihash 200,9 - an algorithm designed less for raw computing speed than for memory. Equihash ASICs such as the Antminer Z15 continuously search through a large solution space to find valid blocks.

At its core it remains proof of work like Bitcoin: whoever generates a valid block receives the block reward in ZEC (since the halving in November 2024 around 1.5625 ZEC per block). Because a single device on its own only rarely hits, almost all miners pool their power in a pool such as ViaBTC or F2Pool. Mining brings new ZEC into circulation and secures the network against manipulation.

Zcash mining is based on the Equihash algorithm, specifically the variant Equihash 200,9 - a memory-oriented computational task that every Zcash ASIC is hard-wired for.

Equihash was originally intended to keep mining with graphics cards broadly accessible; meanwhile the algorithm is dominated by specialized ASIC miners of the Antminer Z series. Other coins partly use entirely different algorithms (Bitcoin, for example, SHA-256), which is why their hardware is unsuitable for Zcash and vice versa. Anyone who wants to mine ZEC needs Equihash hardware specifically.

For Zcash mining you need Equihash ASIC miners - devices whose chips are built exclusively for Equihash 200,9 and therefore deliver many times the computing power per watt compared to graphics cards. Reference devices are the Antminer Z15 and the more powerful Antminer Z15 Pro from Bitmain, both around 1.5 kW; other manufacturers play hardly any role in Equihash today.

ASIC stands for application-specific integrated circuit: such a device handles only Equihash, but does so particularly efficiently. That is exactly the prerequisite to stay competitive in the Zcash network. You will find the currently available models in our Zcash miner category.

No, mining Zcash (ZEC) with a graphics card or PC no longer pays off economically today - in the early years Equihash was mineable on GPUs, but since specialized Equihash ASICs such as the Antminer Z15 exist, graphics cards have no chance.

The reason is the competition in the network: a modern Equihash ASIC is many times faster and at the same time significantly more efficient than even the most powerful GPU. Anyone who nonetheless tries with a PC ends up paying more for electricity than comes in as ZEC. So for Zcash you plan with an ASIC today, not with GPU rigs.

Zcash is considered a privacy coin because transactions can be shielded via zk-SNARKs: in a shielded payment, sender, recipient and amount remain hidden, while transparent payments are recorded openly on the blockchain as with Bitcoin. That is the distinctive feature of Zcash compared with many other mineable coins.

It changes nothing about mining: the block is generated via Equihash 200,9, regardless of whether the contained transactions are transparent or shielded. The only thing important for miners is that, due to the protocol, the payout of the block reward runs via a transparent address - more on this in the question about the payout address.

Separate mining software is not required for Zcash mining with an Equihash ASIC such as the Antminer Z15 - the control logic sits firmly in the device firmware. Configuration is done exclusively via the miner's web interface: you open it in the browser, enter a ZEC pool such as ViaBTC or F2Pool as well as your Zcash wallet address, and the Z15 starts hashing.

Historically, Zcash could also be mined via GPU and software such as EWBF or lolMiner; due to Equihash ASICs that is economically outdated. Anyone running several Z15 units can optionally add a monitoring solution on top - it is not necessary to start a single device.

What can be bought are specialized Equihash ASICs - in the industrial segment above all the Antminer Z series from Bitmain, such as the Antminer Z15 and the more powerful Antminer Z15 Pro (both around 1.5 kW). Other manufacturers play hardly any role in Equihash today; you will find the currently available models at the top of this page.

At Cryptohall24 you order the right Zcash miners directly - new or as a tested used device. Which model suits you depends on whether you want to mine at home or have it hosted and how high your budget is; we are happy to advise you on this.

For Zcash, almost everything revolves around the Equihash family of the Antminer Z15: used first-generation Z15 units are available for a few hundred euros, while the current top model Antminer Z15 Pro is several thousand euros higher. The price follows the hashrate in Sol/s and the efficiency.

Since the device selection for Zcash narrows down to a few Equihash ASICs, comparing the purchase price, around 1.5 kW power draw in continuous operation and expected ZEC yield is especially direct. You will find the daily prices of the individual models at the top of this page.

With Zcash it is worth looking at the generation: a used Antminer Z15 still delivers solid Equihash hashrate, but the newer Z15 Pro gets more out of every watt. It is precisely this efficiency difference that determines whether the cheaper older device pays off. Tested used devices for Zcash are available at Cryptohall24 just like new ones.

Concretely this means: a used Z15 scores above all where electricity is cheap and the purchase price is well below the Z15 Pro. At high electricity prices, the more efficient, more expensive device often pays off sooner. Which variant comes out ahead in your setup we are happy to calculate for you based on the Zcash miners.

Buying Zcash means owning ZEC immediately at the current price on a crypto exchange such as Bitget or Binance - provided ZEC is traded there. Mining Zcash means generating coins yourself with an Equihash ASIC such as the Antminer Z15 and continuously collecting block rewards.

For profitability, Zcash's own halving mechanic plays a role: the block reward decreases in multi-year steps, which reduces the amount producible per Z15 over time. Whether mining pays off therefore depends on electricity price, ZEC price and difficulty - a mining calculator shows the current status. Cryptohall24 sells the Equihash hardware and offers hosting; the ZEC trading itself is handled by the exchanges.

A home miner would be a quiet, compact device for operation in living spaces - but for Zcash this category does not exist. Equihash mining is dominated exclusively by industrial ASICs of the Antminer Z series (Z15, Z15 Pro), which are built for data centers.

These devices are too loud for living spaces and produce too much waste heat, even though at around 1.5 kW they are comparatively efficient. Anyone who wants to mine Zcash therefore plans with a suitable location such as a garage, utility room or data center - or has the device hosted.

Zcash miners run exclusively on air cooling - a Hydro variant does not exist on the market for the Equihash algorithm. The Antminer Z series (Z15, Z15 Pro) draws off its waste heat via powerful built-in fans; no further cooling technology is needed for these comparatively compact devices.

What matters is therefore solely the environment: sufficient fresh air, a clear exhaust path and a location where the warm air can be drawn off. Anyone who wants to avoid the fan noise in a residential setting has their Z15 hosted in a data center rather than looking for a different cooling type.

A Zcash ASIC of the Antminer Z series is too loud for living spaces - in operation it reaches the level of a continuously running vacuum cleaner, because its fans have to dissipate the waste heat of the roughly 1.5 kW in continuous operation. In an apartment this is hardly bearable.

Unlike with some other coins, there are no quiet home devices for Zcash - the Z15 and Z15 Pro are classic industrial hardware that belongs in a garage, a utility room or a data center. Anyone without a suitable space is better served by a professional hosting location, where the devices run cooled and without noise disturbance in a residential setting.

A ZEC wallet is mandatory: it provides the receiving address that you enter in the pool, and that is exactly where the mined Zcash flows automatically. Without this address the pool has no destination for the block rewards.

With Zcash there are two address types - transparent t-addresses (beginning with "t") and shielded z-addresses with privacy protection. Pool payouts run, due to the protocol, first to a transparent t-address; you can then move the ZEC into the protected z-address yourself. Only you should know the private key to this wallet. Anyone holding larger amounts stores the keys offline on a hardware wallet such as Ledger, which supports Zcash.

Zcash mining earnings are paid out to a transparent address - a so-called t-address that begins with "t". This is due to the protocol: payouts from block rewards can only go to transparent addresses with Zcash. So you enter a ZEC t-address as the payout destination with your mining pool.

Zcash also has shielded z-addresses (beginning with "z") that hide sender, recipient and amount via zk-SNARKs. If you want to use this privacy feature, you then move your mined ZEC yourself from the t-address into a z-address ("shielding"). Only you control the wallet - secure your seed phrase carefully, as a loss is irretrievable.

Zcash can be mined in several established Equihash pools - the largest are ViaBTC, F2Pool, 2Miners and AntPool. The fees are usually around 1 to 2 percent, settled via PPS or PPLNS depending on the pool, with different minimum payouts.

Via ViaBTC there is a direct cooperation: by signing up through our link you get reduced pool fees there. Because the exact conditions and hashrate shares shift continuously, before committing it is worth taking a daily look at the fee page of the respective pool.

There is no single best Zcash pool - what makes sense is what fits your hashrate (Sol/s) and your goal. Four criteria are decisive: the fee level, the payout model (PPS brings more predictable earnings than PPLNS), the minimum payout and the pool size, because with small Sol/s performance a large pool smooths your payouts.

For getting started, ViaBTC is a solid choice, with which we cooperate and through whose link you get reduced fees. Measure your candidates against exactly these four points and get the fees daily from the provider rather than following a blanket ranking.

Yes, solo mining is permitted with Zcash: you point your Antminer Z15 directly at your own Zcash node and, on finding a block, collect the full reward of around 1.5625 ZEC instead of sharing it in a pool.

The catch lies in the mathematics of the Equihash network. A single Z15 contributes only a tiny fraction to the total hashrate, so that weeks or months can pass without a single hit - and then possibly several in quick succession. Anyone who wants predictable, even payouts joins a pool such as ViaBTC or F2Pool; solo only pays off once you operate entire Z15 racks.

At around 1.5 kW per device, Zcash mining stays moderate: the Equihash ASIC Antminer Z15 Pro draws about this 1.5 kW and in continuous operation reaches roughly 13,000 kWh per year - significantly less than a large Bitcoin ASIC, but because the device runs 24/7, electricity is nonetheless by far the largest ongoing cost factor.

Over the year this adds up considerably, and the concrete value depends on model and efficiency. The electricity price is therefore the most important profitability lever: at household electricity around 30 ct/kWh continuous operation becomes expensive, which is why mining is frequently done at locations with cheap energy.

With Zcash mining, the electricity price decisively determines profitability, because an Equihash ASIC of the Antminer Z series permanently draws around 1.5 kW. With cheap industrial electricity, operation can achieve positive daily earnings; with German household electricity prices around 30 ct/kWh it usually becomes uneconomical.

There is no blanket threshold, since ZEC price and difficulty fluctuate. The most reliable approach is, before purchase, to calculate your own scenario with a current mining calculator - with your hardware, your power consumption and your kWh price - and to check price and difficulty daily.

Yes, like Bitcoin, Zcash has a halving: at regular intervals the reward per block halves. At the last halving in November 2024 the reward dropped to 1.5625 ZEC per block, which roughly halved the amount newly issued daily.

The rhythm is around four years; the next halving is not expected until around the end of 2028, so none is due in 2026. For Zcash miners, each halving means that fewer new ZEC are distributed per block - which makes the efficiency of the hardware (for example with the Z15 Pro) and a low electricity price all the more important.

The total supply of Zcash is, as with Bitcoin, capped at 21 million coins. These gradually come into circulation via Equihash proof-of-work mining, with each halving halving the issuance pace - since November 2024 the block reward is 1.5625 ZEC.

Of the block reward, around 80 percent goes to the miners, the rest flows into the protocol's development and fund share. New Zcash arise exclusively through mining - there is no other source. The fixed cap makes ZEC a scarce currency modeled on Bitcoin.

In 2026 Zcash is still a proof-of-work coin and is mined via Equihash 200,9 with ASICs of the Antminer Z series. In the Zcash community, however, a possible switch to proof of stake has been discussed for some time; the topic is part of the ongoing roadmap around the network upgrades NU6.1/NU7. No fixed date is set.

Important for miners: a switch to proof of stake would end ASIC mining of Zcash, since validation would then no longer be via computing power but via staked coins. Currently, however, Zcash remains fully mineable. Anyone investing in a Zcash miner today should follow the roadmap and governance votes daily and factor a possibly shorter remaining useful life of the hardware into the calculation.

Whether Zcash mining is worth it in 2026 depends above all on the ZEC price, the network difficulty and your electricity price. With cheap electricity and an efficient Equihash device such as the Antminer Z15 Pro, mining can be profitable under suitable conditions; with expensive household electricity the calculation quickly tips into the red.

A Zcash particularity: the privacy narrative has recently gained attention, as regulatory pressure on transparent blockchains increases interest in shielded transactions - a sentiment factor, not a price guarantee. Added to this is the discussed possible switch to proof of stake, which could shorten the useful life of the hardware. The most reliable approach is to calculate your scenario beforehand with a current mining calculator and keep an eye on the roadmap.

Your earnings from Zcash mining are the ZEC yield of the Antminer Z15 minus electricity costs - and both sides of this calculation move daily, because ZEC price, Equihash difficulty and pool fee fluctuate. A blanket figure would be misleading.

You should plan for one Zcash particularity: there is a discussion about a possible switch to proof of stake, which would limit the remaining useful life of ASIC-based hardware such as the Z15. This potentially shortens the time window in which the investment amortizes. Calculate your current net yield with a mining calculator for the Z15.

The daily yield in ZEC is determined by how your device's hashrate - measured for the Antminer Z15 Pro in Sol/s on the Equihash algorithm - relates to the total network computing power, and which pool share falls to you from it. There is no fixed daily amount.

Difficulty and ZEC price change permanently, which is why the yield fluctuates from day to day. A current mining calculator converts your Sol/s hashrate into an expected gross ZEC yield; after deducting electricity costs you get the net value.

How much Zcash an Equihash device brings in you estimate with a mining calculator. For the Antminer Z15 Pro, for example, you enter the hashrate and around 1.5 kW consumption, plus your electricity price - from this the tool forms, with the current ZEC price and network difficulty, the estimated daily or monthly yield.

A suitable source is AsicMinerValue, which lists the Equihash models of the Antminer Z series with daily profitability. Because price and difficulty change continuously, the result remains a snapshot - recalculate your scenario shortly before purchase.

Zcash mining at home is feasible, with one decisive catch: for the Equihash algorithm there are exclusively loud industrial ASICs such as the Antminer Z15 (around 1.5 kW), no quiet home variants. The power appetite at 1.5 kW is indeed more moderate than with many 3 kW devices, but the noise level makes living-room operation unattractive - a basement or garage is mandatory.

Whether it pays off depends above all on the electricity price: household electricity around 30 ct/kWh is usually too expensive, with a cheap tariff or your own solar power from a photovoltaic system the calculation looks considerably better. Anyone who wants to operate several Z15 units or maximize profitability is usually better served by hosting in a data center.

You can indeed heat with a Zcash miner, but the heating effect is moderate: an Antminer Z15 draws only around 1.5 kW and converts almost all of it into heat while it mines ZEC via the Equihash algorithm. That is enough for a room as supplementary warmth, but does not replace a full heating system.

The Equihash ASICs of the Z series run loud, which is why a basement, garage or workshop is suitable as a location. Whether the dual benefit of heating plus mining pays off is decided above all by the electricity price - with cheap electricity or your own solar power, the energy used not only heats but the ZEC earnings recoup part of the costs.

The mining difficulty of Zcash indicates how much computational work is needed to find a valid block in the Equihash network. The hashrate is measured here in Sol/s (solutions per second).

Zcash adjusts the difficulty almost from block to block, rather than fixing it in large jumps - this keeps the block time stable even with fluctuating computing power. If the total Sol/s performance grows, the difficulty rises accordingly; if hashrate withdraws, it falls.

For the individual miner, a higher difficulty means a smaller share of the block rewards. Whether Zcash mining pays off with your device results from the interplay of difficulty, ZEC price and electricity price.

The Zcash ASIC Antminer Z15 (Equihash, around 1.5 kW) can theoretically be placed in any data center specialized in ASICs, because the actual hosting lever - cheap industrial electricity, designed cooling and 24/7 connectivity - applies regardless of the coin. You remain the owner and continue mining ZEC in the pool of your choice.

Cryptohall24, however, is specialized in powerful industrial ASICs from Bitmain and MicroBT; the rather efficient Z15 we accept only after individual review, because a 1.5 kW device rarely justifies the effort of a data center slot. Which location factors really count for Equihash devices is explained in our mining hosting guide.

Concretely, Cryptohall24 accepts Zcash devices of the Antminer Z series (Z15, Z15 Pro) only after individual review - at around 1.5 kW these Equihash ASICs are well below the industrial class our hosting is tailored to (Bitmain and MicroBT/Whatsminer machines with several kilowatts of continuous load).

Whether your specific Z15 model nonetheless gets a slot we decide together with you - simply get in touch with the exact designation. Compact devices for the home we are happy to sell and explain, but accept them into the data center only in exceptional cases.

What is decisive with Zcash is not only Equihash but the exact variant 200,9 - only coins with exactly this parameter set can be mined with a Zcash miner, and that is almost exclusively Zcash itself.

An Antminer Z15 cannot mine Bitcoin (SHA-256) or Litecoin (Scrypt), because its chips are fixed on Equihash 200,9. Even Equihash coins with other parameters remain out of reach. Hardware for other algorithms you will find in the ASIC miner category.

Zcash is a privacy coin - precisely for that reason, clean documentation carries particular weight for tax purposes: record mined ZEC amounts, timestamps and prices completely, because the shielded blockchain offers the tax office no traceability of its own. The privacy changes nothing about its treatment as such.

Whether mining is permitted varies by country; in Germany Zcash mining is legal and, in ongoing operation with intent to profit, becomes commercial, so that the ZEC earnings are taxed. Against this you can offset the cost of electricity, hosting and the Z15; an overview is given in our article on how to reduce taxes through crypto mining. The individual case is assessed by a tax professional - this is not tax advice.