How to mine Zcash (ZEC) in 2026: hardware, income math, pools and setup

To mine Zcash in 2026 you need an Equihash ASIC such as the Bitmain Antminer Z15 family, a pool that lists ZEC and a ZEC wallet address. The miner earns 1.25 ZEC per block, about 1,152 blocks a day. At the 2026-10-01 price and network hashrate, a 420 kSol/s Z15 grossed about $29.62 a day before power and pool fees.

This guide walks through the numbers behind that figure, the machines that still make sense, the pools that take ZEC, and the setup steps. POOL BTC is an independent comparison site. We are not a pool and sell no hardware, and nothing here is investment advice or a price forecast.

How does Zcash mining work in 2026?

Zcash is a proof of work coin on the Equihash 200,9 algorithm. A new block arrives roughly every 75 seconds, which works out to 1,152 blocks a day. Since the halving of 2024-11-23 each block carries a 1.5625 ZEC subsidy, and miners keep 80% of it, so 1.25 ZEC per block plus transaction fees.

The other 20% does not go to miners. Under ZIP 1015, 8% goes to Zcash Community Grants and 12% to a protocol lockbox. The split arrived with the NU6 upgrade at the halving (block 2,726,400) and the NU6.1 upgrade, activated on 2025-11-24 at block 3,146,400, kept the same 80/8/12 split. Sources: Electric Coin Co. and z.cash NU6 page, both checked 2026-10-01.

The real count can drift a little from the target. Blockchair showed 1,151 blocks in the 24 hours before our check on 2026-10-01. The next halving is expected around November 2028 at block 4,406,400, per the NiceHash countdown.

What hardware do you need to mine ZEC?

You need an Equihash ASIC. Bitmain's Antminer Z15 series is the common choice: the Z15 does 420 kSol/s at 1,510 W and the Z15 Pro does 840 kSol/s at 2,780 W. GPUs and CPUs can technically run Equihash software, but they are not competitive against ASICs at today's network difficulty.

The ViaBTC ZEC mining guide (2026-09-02) cites current Zcash documentation that network difficulty "generally requires ASIC hardware". It adds that a device may run mining software and still lose money after power and cooling.

Specs checked on 2026-10-01. Efficiency is power divided by hashrate, which we worked out ourselves. The Z15 Pro gets twice the hashrate of the Z15 for less than twice the power, so it does the most work per watt. The Z15e draws the same 1,510 W as the Z15 for less than half the output.

How much does a ZEC miner earn per day?

Daily ZEC equals your hashrate divided by network hashrate, times 1,152 blocks, times 1.25 ZEC. With the network at 28.3 GSol/s and ZEC at $1,386 on 2026-10-01, a Z15 earned about 0.02137 ZEC, or $29.62 a day gross. A Z15 Pro earned twice that.

The inputs: network hashrate of 28.3 GSol/s per Blockchair and a price of $1,386 per CoinGecko, both 2026-10-01. The price is a snapshot. It was different yesterday and will be different tomorrow, so rerun the math with today's figure.

Worked example for the Z15: 420 kSol/s divided by 28,300,000 kSol/s, times 1,152, times 1.25 gives 0.02137 ZEC. Times $1,386 that is $29.62. The machine uses 1.51 kW times 24 hours, so 36.24 kWh a day.

The three tariffs are assumptions, not quotes for any region. Pool fees, hardware cost, cooling and repairs are left out. Network hashrate also swings: over the last 30 days trackers such as CoinWarz, 2Miners and minerstat showed roughly 19 to 31 GSol/s. At 31 GSol/s every gross figure in the table drops by about 9%.

Which pools support Zcash mining?

Of the pools we track, ViaBTC, Trustpool and Tpool list ZEC. ViaBTC publishes its ZEC terms most fully: PPS+ or PPLNS, 0.001 ZEC minimum payout. Trustpool and Tpool show the fee and payout scheme per coin in their coin tables (the pool's coin table, 2026-10-01), but neither shows a minimum payout for ZEC.

ViaBTC's fee list on its pricing page is a general schedule, and the pool says to confirm current ZEC fees in the account settings. For the other two, contact support or look inside the dashboard before pointing hashrate at them.

How do you set up a Zcash miner step by step?

Once the ASIC is powered and on the network, setup is short. You create a pool account, add a ZEC payout address, point the miner's web panel at the pool's stratum URL with your worker name, then watch the pool dashboard until shares appear. Most issues are wrong worker names or ports.

1. Get a ZEC wallet. A transparent address (starting with t1) is the safe default for pool payouts, since not every pool pays to shielded addresses.
2. Register at the pool and add your ZEC address as the payout address. Pick PPS+ or PPLNS where the pool offers a choice.
3. Connect the miner to your router by cable and find its IP address on the router or with the manufacturer's IP tool.
4. Open that IP in a browser and log in to the miner's web panel.
5. In the pool settings enter the stratum URL. ViaBTC's ZEC pool announcement gives stratum+tcp://zec.viabtc.com:3333. For other pools, copy the address from their own help page.
6. Enter the worker name in the form account.worker and any password the pool accepts, then save and let the miner restart.
7. Check the pool dashboard once the miner has run for a while. Rising accepted shares mean it works.

How do you check if ZEC mining pays for you?

Put your own tariff and the live network numbers into a calculator before you buy a machine. The POOL BTC calculator now supports ZEC: pick the coin in the selector and enter hashrate in kSol/s or MSol/s. It pulls network hashrate live, so the answer follows the network instead of a figure frozen in an article.

Open the mining calculator, pick ZEC in the coin selector and type in the hashrate from the table above. Then change two inputs: your actual electricity rate and the pool fee from your pool's own page. The difference between the gross and net lines is what you will really keep.

Also look at payback. A daily margin means little until you divide the machine's price by it, and both the ZEC price and network hashrate will move during that period. Treat any payback estimate as a range, not a promise.

What are the risks of mining Zcash?

The main risks are price, network hashrate and hardware. ZEC income is paid in ZEC, so a price drop cuts dollar revenue on the same day. Network hashrate moved between about 19 and 31 GSol/s in a single month. And the next halving, expected around November 2028, will cut the block subsidy in half.

Hardware risk is easy to underestimate. Z15 series machines are not new, and used units with worn fans or hashboards are common. Ask for a test run under load and check the hashrate on a pool dashboard before paying. Noise is another factor: an air-cooled ASIC is too loud for a living room.

Rules on mining differ by country. If you are in Russia, read our guide to mining in Russia in 2026 for the registry, tax and regional bans before you plug in.

FAQ

Can I still mine Zcash with a GPU?

Technically yes, since mining software for Equihash exists. In practice the network is dominated by ASICs, and ViaBTC's guide citing Zcash documentation says current difficulty generally requires ASIC hardware. A GPU will earn a tiny fraction of an Antminer Z15 while using a large share of the power.

How much ZEC does a miner get per block?

1.25 ZEC plus transaction fees. The block subsidy has been 1.5625 ZEC since the 2024-11-23 halving, and miners receive 80% of it. The remaining 20% goes to Zcash Community Grants (8%) and a protocol lockbox (12%) under ZIP 1015.

When is the next Zcash halving?

It is expected around November 2028 at block 4,406,400, per the NiceHash countdown. The exact date depends on how fast blocks actually arrive. After that the subsidy drops to 0.78125 ZEC per block, and the miner share falls by half too.

Which is the best ASIC for Zcash?

Among the models with published specs, the Antminer Z15 Pro has the best efficiency at 3.31 J/kSol (840 kSol/s at 2,780 W). The Z15 is close at 3.60 J/kSol. The Z15e uses the same power as the Z15 for less than half the hashrate, so it is the weakest option.

What payout address should I use?

A transparent ZEC address that starts with t1 is the common choice for pool payouts. Shielded addresses offer privacy, but confirm that your pool pays to them before you enter one. You can move coins from a transparent address to a shielded one later yourself.

Does the POOL BTC calculator support ZEC?

Yes. Pick ZEC in the coin selector on the calculator and enter your hashrate in kSol/s or MSol/s. Network hashrate is pulled live, so the result reflects the network today rather than the snapshot used in this article.

This article contains referral links to mining pools (marked as sponsored). We may receive a reward if you register through them. This does not change the figures or the order of rows in the tables: the terms are taken from the pools' official pages.