Foundry Digital, a major player in the cryptocurrency mining sector, has launched a new mining pool dedicated to the Zcash (ZEC) network. According to the company’s own data, nearly 30% of Zcash’s total network hash power shifted to this pool in a remarkably short period.
Institutional miners rush in
Based in New York, Foundry Digital is already recognized as a leading name in Bitcoin mining. The company announced its plans for the Zcash mining pool back in March, and even prior to the pool’s official debut, it quickly attracted significant interest from large-scale institutional miners.
Alongside the mining pool, Foundry also introduced a new blockchain explorer, Zcashinfo.com. This platform allows users to monitor real-time pool rankings, total hashrate distribution, block data, and mining difficulty, providing up-to-date insights into the health and activity of the Zcash network.
Since 2016, Zcash has operated as a public blockchain network. Known for its advanced privacy features, Zcash enables transactions to be verified without revealing the sender, recipient, or amount. This is made possible through a cryptographic technique called zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs).
Technical distinctions and rewards
Like Bitcoin, the Zcash network relies on a proof-of-work consensus model. Miners compete to solve complex mathematical problems using specialized hardware. Those who succeed are rewarded with newly minted ZEC tokens and transaction fees included in the block.
But there is a critical difference in block production speed between the two cryptocurrencies. Zcash blocks are generated every 75 seconds on average, while Bitcoin’s blocks appear roughly every 10 minutes. Nevertheless, both networks maintain a fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins.
Another technical divergence lies in the mining algorithms: Zcash utilizes Equihash, which demands considerably more memory to operate, whereas Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm.
Because solo miners have slim chances of finding blocks on their own, most join forces through mining pools to boost their odds and share rewards. Larger pools often capture substantial portions of the network’s overall hash power, centralizing mining activities.
Foundry’s Zcash pool organizes payouts to miners via transparent addresses, enhancing traceability. The pool operates under the “pay-per-last-N-shares” (PPLNS) system, which calculates miner payments based on their recent contributions within a set time window.
The company has targeted its new pool primarily at institutional miners compliant with regulatory requirements. Participation is focused mainly on officially regulated corporate customers, differentiating the pool from networks more open to retail or unregulated miners.
