Foundry Digital has secured 30% of the total Zcash network hashrate, establishing its new mining pool as a dominant force in the privacy-focused cryptocurrency ecosystem. The New York-based firm, already a major player in Bitcoin mining, confirmed the milestone following a private onboarding period for institutional clients that began in March.
To support the expansion, Foundry launched Zcashinfo.com. This new block explorer provides real-time transparency into the network, offering data on hashrate distribution, pool rankings, block production, and mining difficulty.
Foundry stated that the pool is designed to provide compliant infrastructure for institutional miners. The firm utilizes a pay-per-last-N-shares (PPLNS) model to distribute rewards, with all payouts processed through transparent addresses to satisfy regulatory requirements.
Understanding the Zcash Network
Zcash launched in 2016 as a privacy-centric alternative to Bitcoin. It employs zero-knowledge proof technology, specifically zk-SNARKs, to verify transactions without exposing the sender, recipient, or the specific amount transferred. While the network operates on a proof-of-work consensus mechanism, it differs from Bitcoin by using the Equihash algorithm. This algorithm requires significant memory capacity, a design choice intended to make the network more accessible to a broader range of hardware.
Because mining solo offers low statistical probability for success, miners aggregate their computing power into pools. These pools play a critical role in network stability, as they allow participants to share rewards based on their collective contribution to the hashrate.
Zcash blocks are produced approximately every 75 seconds, significantly faster than the 10-minute cadence of the Bitcoin network. Like Bitcoin, however, the Zcash supply is strictly capped at 21 million units.
Foundry’s entry into the Zcash ecosystem highlights a broader trend of institutional capital flowing into specialized mining infrastructure. The firm is currently accepting new institutional participants, prioritizing entities that meet specific regulatory standards.
