Zcash's recent rally to a record of about $890 has sharply widened its mining revenue advantage over bitcoin and AI high-performance computing (HPC), demonstrating shifts in the relative value of electricity across competing compute markets.
According to analysis from The Energy Mag, a Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro mining Zcash generated an estimated $727.30 in gross revenue per megawatt-hour of electricity. This figure is approximately 3.3 times the estimated industry-average HPC yield of $222.73 per MWh. Furthermore, the Z15 Pro generates about 4.5 times the $162.11 estimated for Bitmain's latest-generation Antminer S23 Pro bitcoin miner and more than seven times the $102.67 produced by an S21 Pro.
Zcash mining had already outpaced these other workloads prior to the latest market advance, but the recent rally significantly stretched that lead. In a comparable snapshot from late June, the Z15 Pro generated an estimated $373 per MWh, compared to about $223 for HPC, $133 for the S23 Pro, and $84 for the S21 Pro. At that time, the Zcash mining premium over the HPC benchmark was roughly $150 per MWh, and has since widened to over $500.
The gap between the Z15 Pro and the S23 Pro has more than doubled to about $565 per MWh from $240. Under the estimates, Zcash's revenue rose by approximately 95%, while the S23 Pro increased by about 22% and the HPC benchmark remained little changed. This divergence is driven by Zcash's market outperformance, with ZEC gaining about 70% over seven days to trade as high as roughly $890, exceeding the peaks reached during the 2017-2018 crypto cycle.
Bitcoin also rallied more than 20% during the same period, breaking out of a range between roughly $62,000 and $67,000 to climb above $77,000. While this improved bitcoin mining revenue, the increase was notably smaller than the expansion in Zcash economics. The broader cryptocurrency market rally was supported by macroeconomic shifts, including the US Treasury's move to expand purchases of longer-dated government debt, regulatory developments, and a short squeeze that liquidated more than $4 billion in bearish cryptocurrency positions by Friday.
Market participants are now looking to upcoming US economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials at the Jackson Hole symposium for further direction on Treasury yields, the US dollar, and risk assets.
