ZEC is up 69.6% in seven days, and every Equihash ASIC Bitmain has shipped since 2019 is profitable at our $0.08/kWh. Here's an updated look at what the Zcash models are earning at BlockOps Mining in August.
Info sheet · Updated August 23, 2026 · Reference, skim in 2 min
Figures are a snapshot taken August 23, 2026 with ZEC at $814.06. Revenue moves with the ZEC price and network hashrate every day, and after a 69.6% week these numbers are unusually high. Verify before buying hardware. This is general information, not financial advice.
Key Takeaways
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A Z15 Pro nets $32.71 a day, about $994 a month.
Revenue is $38.05 against $5.34 of power. Its break-even power rate is $0.570/kWh, seven times what you would pay.
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A Z11 from April 2019 nets $3.39 a day.
At 10.5 J/ksol it is three times less efficient than a Z15 Pro and still profitable, because ZEC has run far enough to carry it.
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Payback on a Z15 Pro is about 3.2 months at $3,170.
That window is short relative to the
proof of stake risk
most coverage worries about, which has no ZIP number and no activation height.
See what your Equihash fleet earns at BlockOps Mining
Five owner-operated Arkansas sites at $0.08/kWh passed through at cost.
What Does Each Zcash Miner Earn Right Now?
Short answer
At ZEC $814.06 and power at $0.08/kWh: a Z15 Pro nets $32.71 a day, a Z15 nets $16.13, a Z15e nets $6.16 and a Z11 nets $3.39. Every one of those is positive. Revenue scales directly with hashrate, so a machine daily revenue is its ksol/s rating times $0.04530.
At ZEC $814.06, August 23, 2026. Nameplate wattage, before pool fees and downtime. Revenue is anchored to a published Z15 Pro figure of $38.07 per day, then applied per ksol/s. Equihash calculators disagree by about 7% on this; these are the lower numbers.
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Antminer Z15 Pro, 840 ksol/s, June 2023
Power draw
2,780 W, 3.31 J/ksol
Revenue per day
$38.05
Power at $0.08/kWh
$5.34
Net per day
$32.71
Net per month
about $994
Break-even power rate
$0.570/kWh
Hardware
$3,170
Payback
3.2 months
Antminer Z15, 420 ksol/s, June 2020
Power draw
1,510 W, 3.60 J/ksol
Revenue per day
$19.03
Power at $0.08/kWh
$2.90
Net per day
$16.13
Net per month
about $490
Break-even power rate
$0.525/kWh
Hardware
$3,199
Payback
6.5 months
Antminer Z15e, 200 ksol/s, November 2021
Power draw
1,510 W, 7.55 J/ksol
Revenue per day
$9.06
Power at $0.08/kWh
$2.90
Net per day
$6.16
Net per month
about $187
Break-even power rate
$0.250/kWh
Hardware
secondary market only
Payback
depends on what you pay
Antminer Z11, 135 ksol/s, April 2019
Power draw
1,418 W, 10.50 J/ksol
Revenue per day
$6.12
Power at $0.08/kWh
$2.72
Net per day
$3.39
Net per month
about $103
Break-even power rate
$0.180/kWh
Hardware
$599
Payback
5.8 months
The Z15 costs more than the Z15 Pro
Both list around $3,180, and the Pro does twice the work on 1.8 times the power. That is a thin secondary market rather than a pricing signal. Of these four, the Pro is the only one worth new-hardware money, and the Z11 at $599 is the outlier: a 5.8-month payback on a machine from 2019.
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What Is the Break-Even Efficiency for Zcash Mining?
Break-even efficiency
The worst efficiency, in joules per kilosol, at which a machine still covers its own power bill. Below the threshold you make money, above it you pay to hash. For Equihash the formula is revenue per ksol per day divided by 0.024 times your power rate.
Short answer
At $0.08/kWh and ZEC $814.06, break-even efficiency is 23.6 J/ksol. A Z15 Pro runs at 3.31, a Z15 at 3.60, a Z15e at 7.55 and a Z11 at 10.50. All four clear the threshold with room. Anything worse than 23.6 J/ksol, which means the Z9 generation and older, loses money at that rate.
If ZEC halves to $400
The threshold falls to 11.6 J/ksol. The Z15 Pro, Z15 and Z15e still clear it. The Z11 at 10.50 clears it by a cent, and a pool fee eats most of what is left.
If ZEC falls to $200
The threshold drops to 5.8 J/ksol and only the Z15 and Z15 Pro survive at $0.08/kWh. Plan for this one. ZEC was trading near $480 a week ago.
The number to track
Your break-even power rate, per machine. On a Z15 Pro it is $0.570/kWh. That is the distance between you and the off switch, and it beats daily profit as a health check.
What About the Proof of Stake Risk?
Short answer
Real, funded, and slower than the coverage suggests. Shielded Labs is building Crosslink, a hybrid design that keeps proof-of-work mining and adds a stake-based finality layer above it. It has no ZIP number and no activation height, and the NU7 coinholder vote opening August 25 does not include it.
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Crosslink does not strand Equihash hardware
Under the design being built, miners keep producing blocks and keep earning block rewards, and stake validators only mark those blocks final. Ethereum removed proof-of-work entirely, which is what made GPUs worthless for ETH overnight. We went through the ZIPs, the ballot questions and the two signals worth tracking here:
the Zcash proof of stake mining risk, examined
.
For anyone reading a profitability table: a Z15 Pro pays back in about three months, and the consensus change has no date attached to it. Price risk and hashrate risk will reach you long before Crosslink does. A 69.6% week is the thing to be careful about, not Crosslink.
Quick Answers
Which Zcash miner is the most profitable in August 2026?
Is an old Antminer Z11 still worth running?
At ZEC $814 and $0.08/kWh, yes. A Z11 nets about $3.39 a day, roughly $103 a month, and at $599 it pays back in about 5.8 months. Its break-even power rate is $0.180/kWh. You are betting on the ZEC price, not on the hardware.
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What is the break-even efficiency for Zcash mining?
At $0.08/kWh with ZEC at $814.06, it is 23.6 J/ksol. Divide revenue per ksol per day, currently $0.04530, by 0.024 times your power rate. Every Bitmain Equihash machine from the Z11 forward is more efficient than that threshold.
Will proof of stake make my Zcash miner worthless?
Not under the design currently being built. Crosslink is a hybrid that keeps proof-of-work: miners still produce blocks and still earn rewards, with stake validators adding finality above them. It has no ZIP number, no activation height, and no line on the NU7 ballot. Our full breakdown covers the two public signals to watch.
Keep reading
The Zcash proof of stake mining risk, examined
What Crosslink actually is, what is on the NU7 ballot, and the two signals that would mean a real change.
Zcash on-chain data breakdown
Shielded pool growth, transaction counts and hashrate, and what each tells a miner.
Zcash mining overview
Hardware, pools, power draw and where the margin actually comes from.
Zcash mining versus Kaspa mining
Two altcoin ASIC bets compared on efficiency, hardware cost and exit risk.
Sources
Run your Equihash fleet at $0.08/kWh in Arkansas
Five owner-operated facilities, power passed through at cost, curtailment capped in writing, and you keep title to your equipment. Send us your model list and we will come back with the per-machine numbers at our rate, plus inventory and a racking date.
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