Fortitude Mining has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Bitmain for priority access to the manufacturer’s next-generation Zcash mining hardware, with an indicative commitment of up to ₿1,170.16 ($100 million). The machines have not yet been commercially released, and final specifications and pricing are still pending.
That distinction matters. This is not yet a completed ₿1,170.16 purchase order. Fortitude has reserved priority access under an LOI and can move toward a binding purchase agreement after Bitmain formally announces the hardware, its specifications, and its price.
The New ASICs Are Still Under Wraps
Bitmain has not publicly released the final hashrate, power draw, efficiency, price, or product name for the new machines. Fortitude says shipments are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2027, subject to a definitive agreement and final commercial terms.
The company is already one of the most aggressive institutional buyers of Equihash ASICs. BitcoinVersus previously covered Fortitude’s 9,000-unit Antminer Z15 Pro expansion, a fleet expected to add about 7.56 GSol/s of nameplate Equihash capacity.
A ₿234.03 Deposit Would Reserve the Full Allocation
According to The Block, the LOI calls for a refundable deposit equal to 20% of the commitment. At the full ₿1,170.16 ($100 million) allocation, that would be approximately ₿234.03 ($20 million).
Fortitude also increased its credit facility with parent Digital Currency Group to about ₿819.11 ($70 million), with roughly ₿499.66 ($42.7 million) of borrowing capacity remaining. The company said the deposit funding is expected to be provided in ZEC and then used to support the hardware commitment.
Fortitude Already Has a Large Z15 Pro Order
Fortitude’s earlier definitive agreement covers 9,000 Antminer Z15 Pro machines for roughly ₿368.60 ($31.5 million). The company says it currently operates about 4.7 GSol/s of Equihash hashrate and controls more than 60 MW of contracted power capacity across seven U.S. sites.
That makes the new Bitmain allocation more than a speculative hardware reservation. If the next-generation machines materially improve joules per solution, Fortitude could use the new fleet to increase Equihash output without scaling electrical demand at the same rate. That relationship between computation and energy is the same reason BitcoinVersus compares Bitcoin and Zcash through power-efficiency analysis.
The Missing Number Is Efficiency
The most important specification is still unknown: how much Equihash work the new ASIC produces per watt. Raw hashrate matters, but electrical efficiency determines how much output a miner can deploy inside a fixed power envelope and how much cooling, switchgear, transformer capacity, and operating cost that fleet requires.
Until Bitmain publishes those numbers, it is too early to say how large a technical jump this generation represents over the Z15 Pro. The priority allocation tells us Fortitude wants early access. It does not yet tell us whether the silicon will justify the maximum commitment.
What to Watch Next
The next meaningful milestone is Bitmain’s formal product announcement. Watch for the model name, KSol/s or MSol/s rating, wall power, joules-per-solution efficiency, unit pricing, warranty terms, and the final number of machines Fortitude actually converts from the LOI into a binding order.
If shipments begin in Q2 2027 as planned, the first real proof will come from field performance: sustained accepted hashrate, failure rate, thermal behavior, uptime, and total facility power once the machines are deployed at scale.
BitcoinVersus.Tech
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Editor’s Note
The ₿ figures use the current USD/BTC conversion available at publication time. Fortitude’s commitment remains indicative and non-binding until final Bitmain specifications, pricing, and a definitive purchase agreement are completed.
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