Foundry, a Major Bitcoin Miner, Launches New Pool for Privacy-Centric Zcash

(SeaPRwire) –   Foundry, a New York upstate-based company founded in 2019, operates a mining pool that currently accounts for roughly 31% of all Bitcoin mining output. On Monday, the firm officially launched a second mining pool centered on Zcash, a cryptocurrency that shares many traits with Bitcoin but is built to offer greater transaction privacy. Given Foundry’s oversized influence in the cryptocurrency mining sector, this move represents a major vote of confidence for Zcash.

During an interview with , Foundry Chief Executive Officer Mike Colyer noted that adding Zcash to the company’s offerings was a response to rising demand from major institutional players for so-called privacy coins. By launching this new pool, Foundry is wagering that institutional miners—including multiple publicly traded companies—will dedicate a portion of their operational resources to Zcash mining. This bet aligns with a stance held by some cryptocurrency analysts: that large financial institutions, which have built multi-billion-dollar digital asset portfolios, will adopt Zcash, whose network specializes in safeguarding transaction privacy.

The initial leg of this wager is already showing signs of success. Foundry, a subsidiary of billionaire Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group, shared in an official statement that its new Zcash pool has experienced quick, steady growth from a range of institutional mining clients, and that the pool already makes up nearly one-third of all newly generated Zcash supply.

Zcash currently ranks as roughly the 15th-largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of around $6.3 billion. That figure is minuscule when compared to Bitcoin’s $1.5 trillion market cap or Ethereum’s $270 billion valuation as the second-largest crypto, but it remains a meaningful size. Significantly, Zcash’s price has surged more than 75% over the past 30 days, compared to a roughly 7% rise in the broader cryptocurrency market. This sharp price jump came shortly after Foundry announced plans to launch the new pool in early March.

Launched in 2016, Zcash was created by developer Zooko Wilcox, who aimed to build a Bitcoin-inspired network that made concealing transactions simpler. The Zcash blockchain achieves this through a technology called zero-knowledge proofs, which let a user confirm a transaction is valid without viewing any identifying information. Unlike fellow privacy coin Monero, Zcash’s framework supports selective disclosure, making it more attractive to banks and other large institutions that want to protect client transactions while still adhering to regulatory requirements.

Similar to Bitcoin, Zcash runs on a so-called proof-of-work network. This term refers to a blockchain system where participants must demonstrate their investment in the network by using electricity to contribute to operations and earn rewards. This stands in contrast to blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana, which require network validators to lock up collateral as part of a proof-of-stake system.

Made in the U.S.A.

Foundry’s rise to become the leading Bitcoin mining pool operator is noteworthy, as the industry was controlled by Chinese companies such as AntPool and BTC.com for over a decade. In 2021, though, Foundry took advantage of China’s crypto-focused regulatory crackdown to once again position the United States as the hub of global Bitcoin mining.

Foundry does not participate directly in Bitcoin mining, which involves using specialized computers called rigs and massive amounts of electricity to solve random mathematical problems generated by the blockchain. Instead, the firm runs a mining pool that allows participants to split the collective rewards, giving companies a steady, predictable cash flow. The business also acts as a support center for miners, assisting with financial, legal, and compliance-related aspects of their operations.

According to Colyer, all of these efforts advance the goal of keeping the U.S. with strategic influence over Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency grows into a key geopolitical asset. In this framework, he notes that Foundry, which is based in Rochester, New York, is helping protect the integrity of the Bitcoin network and ensuring it stays decentralized.

“The vision was that nation states would one day become miners,” Colyer stated, adding that it was critical that China, the U.S.’s geopolitical competitor, not keep its dominant hold over both Bitcoin mining pools and mining hardware production.

Foundry’s main win on this front has been growing its mining pool to be roughly 40% larger than its closest competitor. The firm also plays a key part in helping its U.S.-based mining partners secure new machines equipped with advanced chips that can keep up in an industry where older rigs quickly become outdated.

In the last year, the Trump Administration’s tariff policies have made these efforts more challenging, as the vast majority of mining rig manufacturing still occurs in Asia. But Colyer shared that Foundry and its partners have managed to work through these obstacles.

“Our role is to support the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem through our mining pools, which means we’re focused on helping our clients work through these challenges instead of managing our own fleet of mining rigs. Well-funded U.S. mining operators have shown they can withstand these pressures,” Colyer noted.