Institutional Zcash miner Fortitude is significantly expanding its mining operations after signing a definitive agreement with Bitmain to purchase 9,000 Antminer Z15 Pro ASIC miners, one of the industry's leading machines for the Equihash algorithm.
According to the company, the new hardware is expected to add roughly 7.56 GSol/s of Equihash hashrate once fully deployed, marking one of the largest publicly disclosed investments in Zcash mining infrastructure this year.
The miners will be shipped in two batches, with 3,000 units scheduled for delivery in October and the remaining 6,000 in November. Fortitude said it committed approximately $31.5 million to the purchase, paying $3,499 per unit.
The expansion comes as Fortitude continues to position itself as one of the largest dedicated participants in the Zcash ecosystem. During the first half of 2026, the company said it mined 72,696 ZEC, representing about 28% of total network production over that period.
The additional mining capacity will be deployed across Fortitude's more than 60 MW of contracted power infrastructure spanning seven sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas and New York.
Fortitude's expansion also aligns with its previously announced plan to enter public markets through a proposed business combination with HeartSciences. If completed, the combined company is expected to trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker TUDE, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Zcash ecosystem continues to evolve
The mining expansion comes during an active period for the broader Zcash ecosystem. Earlier this year, Zcash developers unveiled a roadmap aimed at making the network fully post-quantum over the coming months, beginning with quantum-recoverable wallets before a broader migration to post-quantum cryptography.
Meanwhile, the Zcash Foundation has continued strengthening the network's infrastructure following organizational changes earlier this year. The Foundation reaffirmed that Zcash remains a decentralized protocol supported by multiple independent contributors, while advancing development of the Zebra node software ahead of Network Upgrade 7 and assuming stewardship of additional community infrastructure.
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team
