Zcash Mining Revenue Surges Past Bitcoin, but Competition is Rising Rapidly

Grayscale Research has found that Zcash mining revenue is currently outperforming Bitcoin's in terms of machine-level profitability and revenue per megawatt hour (MWh). According to their estimates, Zcash generates roughly twice as much revenue per machine as Bitcoin and about four times more revenue per MWh. However, this advantage may not last long due to increasing competition.

Since the start of 2026, Zcash mining activity has increased by over 2.5 times, and this rise in computing power is already putting pressure on individual miners. The higher prices for ZEC have attracted more mining capacity, which in turn increases competition for block rewards.

This means that even if ZEC's price continues to appreciate, the revenue per machine may not necessarily increase. In fact, Grayscale Research Director Zach Pandl notes that a higher token price raises the dollar value of block rewards, but it also attracts more mining capacity, which reduces the reward share per machine.

The increasing difficulty in the Zcash network is another indicator of this trend. According to CoinWarz, the network difficulty has risen by 9.28% over the past 30 days, and daily readings have remained volatile. This suggests that new computing capacity is entering the network, which will put further pressure on individual miners.