Grayscale study shows Zcash mining yields higher returns per machine than Bitcoin

Individual miners are reportedly earning significantly more from Zcash than from Bitcoin, based on new findings from Grayscale Research.

Zach Pandl, the firm's research director, observed that Bitcoin dominates in overall size. However, ZEC currently provides stronger returns per machine and per unit of electricity used.

Zcash $ZEC mining is taking off

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

— Zach Pandl (@LowBeta) September 11, 2026

Bitcoin Wins on Scale, Zcash Wins on Efficiency

Bitcoin miners collectively earn around $35 million per day in rewards, according to Grayscale, while Zcash miners generate roughly $2 million. That disparity reflects Bitcoin's far larger network and hashrate.

The situation reverses at the individual operator level. Grayscale estimates a typical Zcash mining rig generates about twice the daily revenue of a comparable Bitcoin machine.

On a power-consumption basis, the gap widens further: Zcash mining yields approximately four times the revenue per megawatt-hour compared with Bitcoin, in some cases even exceeding returns from certain AI and high-performance computing cloud services.

That elevated profitability is largely due to ZEC's strong price performance. The privacy coin surpassed $1,000 for the first time in nearly a decade on September 4 and now trades near $1,177, up almost 15% over the past week.

Higher prices have attracted additional mining capacity, with standardized hashrate metrics showing that Zcash's total mining activity has risen more than 2.5 times year-to-date.

Why a Direct Comparison Remains Difficult

Bitcoin and Zcash use entirely different mining hardware. Bitcoin relies on SHA-256 ASICs, while Zcash depends on Equihash-optimized machines, meaning operators cannot simply redirect the same equipment toward whichever chain appears 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 describes 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 appears 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.