Zcash mining earns $727/MWh as ZEC rally tops $890

Zcash mining revenue hit $727.30 per megawatt-hour, over four times Bitcoin's $162/MWh, after ZEC rallied 70% in seven days to a practical record near $890.

The estimates come from The Energy Mag's analysis of Bitmain's Z15 Pro ASIC, which generates the revenue per MWh of electricity consumed. The figure is about 3.3 times an estimated industry-average HPC yield of $222.73 per MWh.

In late June, the Z15 Pro generated an estimated $373/MWh versus about $223 for HPC and $133 for the S23 Pro. The gap between Zcash mining and the HPC benchmark has since widened to more than $500 per MWh from about $150. The Z15 Pro's revenue has risen about 95% under the estimates, while the S23 Pro's increased about 22% and the HPC benchmark was little changed.

ZEC's rally to roughly $890 surpasses the peaks reached during the 2017-18 crypto cycle, though major price databases still retain anomalous launch-week trades of $3,200-$6,000 as the official all-time high. Those prices were recorded when only a tiny number of coins had been mined and available liquidity was extremely limited.

Bitcoin also rallied more than 20% last week, breaking out of a range between roughly $62,000 and $67,000 and climbing above $77,000 on Friday. That improved bitcoin mining revenue, but the increase was considerably smaller than the expansion in Zcash economics.

The broader crypto rally began after the US Treasury moved to expand purchases of longer-dated government debt, pushing yields and the dollar lower. Investors shifted toward alternative assets including gold and bitcoin as concern grew about inflation, federal debt and the outlook for the US currency. Regulatory developments added momentum — President Donald Trump used a White House cryptocurrency conference to press Congress to pass the Clarity Act, while regulators outlined additional measures that could ease rules for digital-asset businesses.

The initial advance then accelerated into a short squeeze. More than $4 billion of bearish cryptocurrency positions had been liquidated by Friday, according to Coinglass data cited by the Associated Press. Closing those positions required traders to buy back digital assets, adding further upward pressure.

The divergence between Zcash mining and competing compute markets highlights how quickly the relative value of electricity can shift. Institutional investors are responding — Cypherpunk Technologies has acquired 18% of Zcash's network hashrate.

The next test comes from US economic data and the Federal Reserve. July personal-consumption-expenditure data, revised second-quarter gross domestic product and durable-goods orders are scheduled for Wednesday, with weekly jobless claims following Thursday. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is due to address the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday. A hawkish message on inflation could lift Treasury yields and the dollar, reversing part of the liquidity-driven crypto rally. A more accommodating stance could support further demand for risk and alternative assets.

For Zcash miners, the stakes are direct: a sharp price correction could compress the $727/MWh revenue figure substantially, narrowing the premium over Bitcoin and AI HPC that has drawn institutional capital into the network.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.