Top Bitcoin Mining Pool Operator Foundry Is Entering the Zcash Market

Foundry Digital to Launch Zcash Mining Pool

Foundry Digital has announced plans to introduce a mining pool for Zcash next month, allowing users to collectively mine this privacy-oriented cryptocurrency.

This initiative is particularly aimed at publicly listed companies and financial institutions that currently lack the infrastructure required to validate Zcash transactions, according to a press release from the operator of the top Bitcoin mining pool.

Mike Colyer, CEO of Foundry, stated that Zcash has evolved into an asset suitable for institutional investors since its launch nearly ten years ago, emphasizing its significant contribution to financial privacy.

The company noted that the new Zcash pool will operate similarly to “Foundry USA,” which currently accounts for about 31% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate, as reported by Hashrate Index. Over the last month, Foundry USA has mined approximately 4,150 Bitcoin, valued at around $290 million.

Foundry explained that its Zcash pool will be based in the United States to help reduce compliance and counterparty risks. While three of the world’s largest mining pools are located in China—where mining activity remains strong despite recent government crackdowns—Foundry’s operations will focus on the U.S. market.

A Foundry representative told Decrypt that the company’s expansion isn’t driven by the current profitability of Bitcoin mining. With energy prices on the rise, an increasing number of Bitcoin mining companies are shifting their focus to opportunities in AI data centers.

“Our Bitcoin mining operations remain robust and are still at the core of our business,” the spokesperson added. “We chose to expand into Zcash because we identified a clear gap in the market that we are well-positioned to address.”

Additionally, Foundry will provide 24/7 technical support for Zcash pool participants, along with payout reporting tools to ensure transparency and auditability.

On Wednesday, Zcash was trading at approximately $215, reflecting a 4.5% drop over the previous day, according to CoinGecko. However, its price has soared by over 600% in the past year.

Understanding Mining Pools and Zcash’s Consensus Mechanism

Mining pools allow individual miners to combine their computing power to solve blocks together, distributing rewards proportionally for more consistent and reliable payouts. In addition to Foundry USA, Ocean and Luxor are among the top U.S.-based mining pool operators.

Like Bitcoin, Zcash relies on a proof-of-work consensus system. This means that new Zcash coins are generated by energy-intensive machines solving complex mathematical problems—about every 75 seconds—while also verifying the legitimacy of transactions to secure the network.

Zcash Mining Metrics and Hardware Differences

Zcash miners measure their equipment’s performance in “Gigasols per second” (GSol/s), which indicates how many potential solutions a miner can generate for the next Zcash block. Since early September, Zcash’s hash rate has climbed from 8.1 GSol/s to 13.8 GSol/s, showing increased investment in the network.

Despite similarities between the two networks, a Foundry spokesperson clarified that Zcash and Bitcoin use fundamentally different proof-of-work algorithms, so their mining hardware cannot be used interchangeably.

Currently, ViaBTC operates the largest Zcash mining pool, controlling about 30% of the network’s hashrate, according to PoolBay. However, Foundry has indicated that this landscape could shift in the near future.