Cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain has released a new version of its Antminer Z series machines for Equihash algorithm coins, the company confirmed in a blog post on March 19.
The Antminer Z11, which comes around ten months after the release of its predecessor the Z9, claims to treble the hashing power available for its target cryptocurrencies.
Equihash is the algorithm used in altcoins such as Zcash (ZEC) and ZenCash (ZEN).
The move sees Bitmain continue to forge ahead with new products despite challenging market conditions within the mining industry, the company previously closing down some aspects of its operations.
“The new Antminer is now pre-selling on Bitmain’s official website and will start shipping shortly,” the blog post confirmed.
In February, Bitmain rolled out its latest offering for SHA256 algorithm cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Similar to that hardware, the Z11 is an ASIC miner, with the Zcash community previously debating over whether to make the coin’s network resistant to ASICs.
Concerns focused on ASICs making the mining landscape less diverse and increasing the possibility of a hostile entity gaining control.
In light of the debate, Bitmain appears to want to offer more transparency to its target market.
“To preserve the Zcash community’s values around security, reliability and accessibility, Bitmain had previously Tweeted real-time updates to ensure more transparency and will continue to provide shipping updates of the first batch of the Antminer Z11,” the blog post said. It continued:
“These commitments to transparency will continue to provide the Zcash foundation and community with the security, reliability and accessibility they desire of manufacturers.”