Barry Silbert’s crypto mining venture, Fortitude, has hit a 60-megawatt power milestone for Zcash (ZEC) mining. The company, backed by Digital Currency Group (DCG), locked in a new $4.7 million data center to support the expansion. The announcement, made by Silbert himself, signals a significant infrastructure push for the privacy-focused coin.
Why the power milestone matters
Mining Zcash requires energy, and 60 MW is a serious chunk of hashing power. For context, that’s enough to run roughly 20,000 homes. Fortitude’s new data center, funded with $4.7 million, will house the rigs needed to secure the Zcash network and earn block rewards. The move suggests DCG sees long-term value in Zcash, even as the broader crypto mining industry faces margin pressure and regulatory headwinds.
What’s inside the new data center
The $4.7 million facility is purpose-built for Zcash mining. Fortitude, which is backed by Digital Currency Group — the same parent company behind Grayscale and CoinDesk — has been scaling its Zcash operations for months. The 60 MW milestone means the company now controls a significant share of the network’s total hashrate. Zcash uses the Equihash algorithm, which is ASIC-resistant but still power-hungry.
Who’s behind the deal
Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of DCG, made the announcement. He didn’t provide a timeline for when the data center would be fully operational, but the $4.7 million figure gives a sense of the scale. Fortitude is the mining arm of DCG, and this investment is one of the largest single-site commitments to Zcash mining to date. The company has been quietly building out its infrastructure, and this is the first public milestone.
What this means for Zcash
Zcash has a fixed supply of 21 million coins, like Bitcoin, but its privacy features make it a target for regulators. The network’s hashrate has fluctuated over the years, partly because mining profitability depends on ZEC’s price. With 60 MW of dedicated power, Fortitude is betting that Zcash will remain viable. The new data center could also help decentralize the network, though critics might argue that a single entity controlling a large chunk of hashrate raises centralization concerns.
Silbert didn’t say how much ZEC the facility is expected to produce, or what the break-even price is. But the investment suggests DCG is playing the long game, even as the broader market cycles through ups and downs.
What’s next
The data center is secured, but it’s not yet online. Fortitude will need to install the mining rigs, connect to the grid, and start hashing. No specific launch date was given. Meanwhile, Zcash’s next network upgrade, which could affect mining dynamics, is still on the roadmap. Investors and miners will be watching to see if the 60 MW milestone draws other players into the Zcash mining space — or if it remains a niche dominated by a few well-funded firms.
