Cryptocurrency mining pool operator Foundry Digital has launched its privacy-focused Zcash cryptocurrency pool, which the company says has secured nearly 30% of the Zcash network’s hashrate through partnerships with a number of institutional mining clients.
“Institutional and public miners seek compliant, purpose-built Zcash mining solution,” Foundry he said on Monday, a month after announcing its plan to create the Foundry Zcash Pool.
Foundry, which is also the largest mining pool on the Bitcoin blockchain, did not disclose which institutional miners it hired to achieve its 29.2% hashrate share.
Mining pools secure proof-of-work blockchains by pooling computing power from commercial miners and others to proportionally share rewards to reduce variance.
Foundry added that it has launched its Zcash block explorer, which shows that 2,344 blocks have been mined in the Foundry Zcash Pool since its launch this month.
Zcash blocks are mined approximately every 75 seconds, and a block grant of 1.25 Zcash token (ZEC) is paid for solving blocks, which equates to approximately $458 at current market prices.
While Foundry said it launched Foundry Zcash Pool earlier this month, Zcashinfo.com data suggests it started collecting hashrate around March 4, about a week before the initial announcement.
The raise in Foundry’s hashrate share reduced ViaBTC’s dominance, which dropped from 68.1% on February 27 to 37% at the time of writing.
Related: The Dash Evolution network integrates the Zcash Orchard privacy pool
Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange tiled ViaBTC hashrate dominance as a network security threat in September 2023.
ZEC has been one of the best performing cryptocurrencies over the past year, growing 1,050%, including a 77.2% gain over the past month following Foundry’s initial announcement.
This is now fifth largest proof-of-work token with a market capitalization of $6.2 billion, final Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and rival privacy coin Monero (XMR).
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