How to Mine Zcash
Zcash is one of the cryptocurrencies that are minable with everything on the market – CPU, GPU and ASICs. Of course mining Zcash with ASICs is the most profitable way. Here you will learn what exactly to pay attention to in order to become a fortunate ZEC miner. This are most important topics you will find on our page: …more
- ZEC mining hardware
- Setup and Configuration
- Mining pool options
There’s also the option for cloud mining, which is going to be covered in-depth below. Keep on reading to find out how to mine this coin without your own hardware.
Why You Should Mine Zcash
Let’s get to the best part of Zcash – anonymity. Zcash’s network encrypts all transactions by users, including their data, to make sure the process is completely incognito. Miners carefully check for cases of double spending, so they can easily prevent them. By validating transactions, miners are helping to keep the network more secure. In return, they receive ZEC coins in the form of a reward. Doesn’t it sound like a sweet deal?
Another plus is that the coin is very user-friendly. The GPU mining option allows even newbies to be able to easily mine it.
Best Way to Mine Zcash
When we’re talking about the best ways to mine Zcash, there’s no doubt that ASIC mining will outperform GPUs. While the algorithm for ASIC miners is fixed and cannot be changed, with video cards you can choose to mine different coins and using different algorithms. Now, if you find a good offer for Nvidia GPU, don’t hesitate to choose it over the AMD alternatives. When comparing those two, NVidia is certainly better. Further on in the article, we’re going to show you a list of top ASICs and GPUs available on the market for mining Zcash.
Finally, in order to get the most out of mining the Zcash, we recommend you join a pool. Mining pools combine miners’ hash power and thus increase their efficiency, so they’re able to provide frequent incomes. Sounds great, right?
What You Need to Start Mining Zcash
With Zcash, you can use your existing computer for ZEC mining or you can also assemble a dedicated, custom one. Even though laptops can also be used to mine, they aren’t as effective as a desktop PC. Here are the basics you need to have covered if you want to start Zcash mining:
- Hardware – ASIC or GPU
- A Zcash Wallet
- Internet Connection – min 1MB/s with preferably no Traffic Limitation
- Enough Electrical Network Capacity for your prefered Setup
In this article we have focused on every single aspect in details, so keep on reading and find out more about them.
What Else You Need to Consider?
Mining ZEC normally consume a lot of electric power and generate tropical heat. You need to have prepared with at least a fan or better, an air conditioning system, to cool down your devices. You can find more in-depth information on the topic here.
Furthermore, to be able to receive the Zcash mining reward and operate with your coins, you should prepare a wallet – there are plenty of GUI ones on the market. We recommend, that you visit our crypto wallets page, to make the best decision for yourself.
Make sure you carefully choose between solo mining and pool mining. We don’t recommend the first option because it’s going to take you a lot of time and it’s also a big investment. What’s more, it doesn’t guarantee fast results. Mining in a pool combines the miners’ resources and generate a big amount of hashing power. This leads to significantly more frequent short-term earnings.
Another tip from us – always compare the features of multiple mining pools before you pick one.
Now that you’ve chosen both a pool and a wallet, you can proceed with the configuration of your hardware.
Best Choice of Zcash Mining Hardware to Buy
Bitmain has released a new cryptocurrency mining hardware, dedicated to the Equihash algorithm, which is used by the privacy-oriented Zcash. It is called Antminer Z9 mini. This is your best choice of hardware to mine Zcash at the moment. But we realize that perhaps it’s not easy to get, so there are other options like Innosilicon’s A9 ZMaster.
If you want to be able to change algorithms or just want to stick to using GPUs, you can pick from some of the most profitable boards from the list below.
We recommend the Bitmain’s Antminer Z9 Mini, which outperforms all the GPUs on the market by hash rate and energy efficiency.
This Antminer Z9 Mini can mine some coins based on the Equihash algorithm like Zcash (ZEC), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Bitcoin Private (BTCP), ZenCash (ZEN) and Hush (HUSH). This is the first ASIC ever to be released for mining these coins. One reminder though, some of the coins may fork the algorithm to prevent ASIC mining on their network. Also, by looking at it, ASICs are probably going to completely replace GPUs, at least for the Equihash algorithm.
In any case, we’re about to look into both GPU and ASIC configuration setups, so keep on reading.
Setup Hardware and Software / Configuration
This section is going to present you the ultimate guide on how to setup and configurate your Zcash miner.
Let’s First Review the Steps for ASIC Miner Configuration
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01. Connect Your Hardware
Connect your hardware to the electricity network and to the internet. It is pretty easy, you just plug the cables in the designated sockets.
02. Choose a Mining Pool
Choose which mining pool you want to join. Here is a list with suggested Zcash mining pools and their fees and reward systems:
Flypool
.Server locations:. . .Reward system: PPLNSAverage fee: 1%F2pool
.Server locations:. .Reward system: PPSAverage fee: 3%Dwarfpool
.Server locations:. . . .Reward system: HBPPSAverage fee: 1%You can find out more about the Zcash mining pools on our mining pools page. There you can also learn more about the reward systems and fees.
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03. Access your Miner
In your browser type the IP or the hostname of the miner. The default username for all Antminers is “root”, with default password “root”. (Read your hardware manual to check for the default login credentials and how to find the IP address of your machine)
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04. Setup Pool Information and Restart
Go to Miner Configuration tab. There you can enter 3 mining pools. If the first pool is dead, then, it will automatically point to the second one.
Below is the configuration example of Antminer Z9 connected to Flypool:
URL: eu1-zcash.flypool.org:3333
Worker: Your Zcash Address e.g.: t1ZW4wTjMXsFvEGsCxtrzUrkBJhv5aoTRC7
Password: Leave blank
Click “Save&Apply” and your Antminer should be up and running after a couple of minutes. If you see “Accepted” share, it means you are mining.
Zcash GPU Mining Setup
If you want to stick to GPU mining, then you will need to choose the proper ZEC mining software, depending on the hardware you plan to use. Here are some options to check:
- EWBF’s CUDA – Nvidia GPUs (Windows/Linux)
- Nheqminer – Nvidia GPUs (Windows/Linux)
- Claymore Zec Miner – AMD GPUs (Windows/Linux)
- Optiminer – AMD GPUs (Windows/Linux)
For our GPU configuration guide for Windows, we are going to use ClaymoreZecMiner for our mining software. Claymore has a long-standing reputation for optimizing miners. That, plus the fact, that it improves the hashing rate considerably, are the reasons for us to download and use it. It charges a 2.5% developer fee. The miner works for the developer for 90 seconds every hour. The fee of this pool is justified by the increased performance.
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01. Download ClaymoreZecMiner
Download the Claymore Zcash miner from this link (Alternative link). There you must pick a version – have in mind, that the latest one is at the bottom corner to the right.
02. Extract the ZIP
Extract the files within the .zip
03. Edit confic.txt
Open the “config.txt” file in your notepad and adjust it by typing the following commands:
GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR 0
GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE 100
GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1
GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
ZecMiner64.exe -zpool eu1-zcash.flypool.org:3333 -allpools 1 -zwal t1ZW4wTjMXsFvEGsCxtrzUrkBJhv5aoTRC7.YourWorkerName -zpsw x
On “eu1-zcash.flypool.org:3333” put your pool’s URL. Replace “t1ZW4wTjMXsFvEGsCxtrzUrkBJhv5aoTRC7” with your ZAC wallet address. If you want, replace the “YourWorkerName” as well. Optionally, you can replace the “x” with your password too
Your configuration should look like this:
04. Save Changes and Start Mining Software
After saving the config file run the start.bat and watch for the output.
If you followed all the steps, you must see something like:
05. Put the Mining Software on Your Windows Auto Startup
After successful configuration you need to run the Zcash mining software at startup. In case you prefer to auto-start mining in case of Windows’ boot up, place a shortcut of the software’s .exe file of your miner’s startup folder. This folder in Windows 10 is here: Start > Run and enter ‘shell:startup’.
We advise you to also:
- Disable the Windows automatic updates.
- Set power profile to ‘always on’
- Installation – when thinking of more than one ZEC mining rig, pick a favorite software for remote access.
Zcash Cloud Mining
Well, if you don’t want to bother with all the configuration explained so far, your best option is cloud mining. This means that a third-party contractor will offer to do all the work for you, not free of charge, of course. You sign a contract and pay the fees, which differ depending on the service. Really pay attention to those fees and the offered conditions. Your profits should outweigh the costs you’re paying. Some of the best cloud mining providers for Zcash at the moment are:
We have also pointed out some benefits of Cloud Mining below:
- 01. You get almost immediate results
- 02. The payouts are in any cryptocurrency
- 03. It enables you to mine Zcash without dealing with the noise and the heat
- 04. It’s a great way to mine coins without having to invest in a hardware
Zcash Calculator
As any other user, you should be excited about how much you’re able to win by mining. We’ve created Zcash mining calculator, which allows you to roughly estimate your ZEC mining rewards. Some fields are automatically filled in (current market conditions and the currency’s parameters), but others – you should fill in manually. The required information is your hashrate, power consumption, electricity costs and pool fee. When you press the ‘Calculate’ button, you’re going to see results showing your earning for an hour, day, week, month or year. If your profits don’t cover your costs, you should consider changing your pool.
Disclaimer: Please note that your profitability depends on the network difficulty and the coin price which are always fluctuating. The result output of the calculator is a very rough estimation of what you’re can win and applies only for the current moment.
FAQ
How much ZEC you can mine in one day?
It depends on your hash rate. You can use our calculator to determine your potential earnings.
Is it worth mining Zcash?
Depends on your expectations, but you can simply verify how much time is needed for return of investment and also about future development of the project.
What is the difference between Solutions and Hashes per second?
Technically they are the same. In PoW systems solutions and hashes are measuring the variation that is tested against the target.
Which are the best countries to mine Zcash?
North America – low cost electricity, cool temperatures, and high-speed internet makes it perfect for ZEC mining. It’s the same case with Iceland and Russia.
Is Zcash ASIC resistant?
Developers of Zcash stated that it was not economically implementable in ASIC hardware, but in 2018 first Equihash ASIC machines appeared on the market.
About Zcash
The development of Zcash is based on the Zerocash system. This is a Bitcoin code, which is upgraded to offer better privacy, using a sophisticated zero-knowledge proving scheme that secures the transaction metadata. The Zcash client downloads and stores the entire transaction history and depends on the network connection speed. The blockchain synchronization takes a day or more and can reach a significant size.
Zcash Team
The company’s team portrays fundamental human values such as dignity, warmth and morality, which are all related to the personal privacy of the user. The team have no control over the mining process. Each of the members in the Zcash community helps to keep it going and to keep it safe by contributing to its development.
Zcash Mining Algorithm
The algorithm behind the Zcash cryptocurrency is Equihash, developed in Luxembourg University’s Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust. The people who developed Equihash are Dmitry Khovratovic and Alex Biryukov, both students of the same university, who developed the latest innovation in the PoW consensus protocol.
Zcash Fork
Since its launch, Zcash experienced its first hard fork this summer – a change of consensus rules, called Overwinter. This new feature lets you cancel a transaction, which hasn’t been added in the block within a certain period of time (20 blocks for about 50 minutes). Users have the opportunity to decide if they want to switch to the change or not, which isn’t typical for hard forks. Go on, try it and give your feedback, so the community can decide if they are going to implement it as a permanent upgrade. Currently it’s something like the SegWit feature of Bitcoin – you can choose to have it or not.
Another fork of Zcash is Zclassic, which is following the same technology, but without the perspective of pre-mining coins. There the reward and the fees are going to a small group of specifically chosen individuals. If you are interested, check our dedicated article on Zclassic– How to mine Zclassic.
Zcash Regulations
Governments are becoming more and more apprehensive regarding the emerging popularity of cryptocurrencies. Although the blockchain technology is focusing on security and privacy, some institutions are seeing it as a growing threat to the economic stability. The EU is being extra cautious with ICOs. This is forwarded to its citizens too, because countries like China and Japan had even halted operations of some cryptocurrencies (e.g. BTC). As more policy makers rush to implement new legislation, there is a growing fear that fiat currencies could be favored over digital ones like Zcash.
Even though crypto networks emerged about 10 years ago, the debate about all of their regulation continues to be as heated as always. Several governments are trying to come up with appropriate legislation in favor of cryptocurrencies. So far, Zcash and other cryptocurrencies remain completely legal.