Foundry Digital, the operator of the world's largest Bitcoin mining pool, officially launched its Foundry Zcash Pool on Monday. The firm has already onboarded multiple institutional mining customers to the new service.
Since the pool's announcement in March, it has captured approximately 29% of the Zcash network's hashrate, according to on-chain data. This expansion follows the firm's established dominance in the Bitcoin sector, where its USA Pool commands roughly 29% of all Bitcoin production.
Foundry CEO Mike Colyer said the launch addresses a critical infrastructure gap for the privacy-focused coin. He noted that Zcash provides verifiable financial privacy on a transparent blockchain.
“The launch of Foundry Zcash Pool reflects years of building infrastructure that institutions trust and a responsibility we’re committed to living up to in the Zcash ecosystem,” Colyer said in a statement.
New blockchain explorer unveiled
Alongside the mining pool, Foundry introduced Zcashinfo.com, a new block explorer designed for the Zcash blockchain. The tool allows users to track transactions and monitor ecosystem data, including mining pool statistics.
Zooko Wilcox, chief product officer of Shielded Labs and Zcash founder, praised the addition of the company's institutional credibility to the network. He described both the mining pool and the new explorer as valuable additions to Zcash's infrastructure.
Zcash (ZEC) has recently seen significant price volatility. The asset jumped 73% over the last month to a price of $354, following a massive rally last year that saw the coin move from $50 to nearly $700.
Despite the recent price surge, prediction market traders on Myriad have turned bearish on the short-term outlook. The platform currently estimates only a 23% chance that Zcash will reach $420 in April, a sharp drop from the 63% odds recorded last Friday.
