Foundry Digital Zcash Pool Secures 29.2% Hashrate With Institutional Clients.
Key Takeaways
- Foundry Digital launched a mining pool for Zcash, securing nearly 30% of the network's hashrate.
- This launch addresses institutional demand for compliant Zcash mining solutions.
- Foundry's entry has significantly reduced ViaBTC's network dominance, previously flagged as a security concern by Coinbase.
- A dedicated block explorer was also launched by Foundry, showing 2,344 blocks mined by the pool since its inception.
- ZEC has experienced substantial growth, rising 1,050% over the past year.
- Zcash now ranks as the fifth-largest proof-of-work token by market capitalization.
Foundry Digital, a prominent crypto mining pool operator, has officially launched its Zcash mining pool. The new pool has rapidly garnered nearly 30% of the Zcash network's total hashrate, reportedly through partnerships with various institutional mining clients. This development marks a significant shift in network distribution and addresses an expressed demand for compliant Zcash mining solutions among institutional and public miners.
Foundry, which also operates the largest mining pool on the Bitcoin blockchain, stated that the Zcash pool was designed to be purpose-built and compliant. While the specific institutional miners onboarded were not disclosed, the pool's rapid accumulation of 29.2% of the total hashrate highlights its immediate impact.
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The company also introduced a dedicated Zcash block explorer. This explorer indicates that the Foundry Zcash Pool has mined 2,344 blocks since its launch earlier this month. Each Zcash block is mined approximately every 75 seconds, awarding a block subsidy of 1.25 ZEC tokens, valued at approximately $458 at current market prices.
Although Foundry announced the pool's launch earlier in April, data from Zcashinfo.com suggests that the pool began accumulating hashrate around March 4, preceding its public announcement by about a week.
Foundry's swift rise in hashrate share has directly impacted ViaBTC's previous dominance. ViaBTC's share has fallen from 68.1% on February 27 to 37% at the time of reporting. This reduction addresses a security risk previously identified by crypto exchange Coinbase in September 2023, which had flagged ViaBTC's high hashrate concentration.
Market performance for ZEC has been robust over the past year, with a 1,050% increase. This includes a 77.2% rally in the last month alone, following Foundry's initial announcement of its intentions. Zcash currently stands as the fifth-largest proof-of-work token by market capitalization, boasting a $6.2 billion valuation. It trails Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and competitor privacy coin Monero (XMR).
