Jaime Leverton to Lead Fortitude Ahead of Nasdaq Debut
Leverton is set to guide Fortitude through its merger with HeartSciences toward a Nasdaq ticker of TUDE. The Zcash mining company aims to close in Q4 and is targeting an implied valuation of at least $400 million.
Key Takeaways
- Fortitude Mining Holdings appoints former Hut 8 executive Jaime Leverton as CEO ahead of its public listing through a merger with HeartSciences.
- The combined company is aiming for a Nasdaq listing under the ticker TUDE and an implied valuation of at least $400 million.
- In the first half of 2026, Fortitude mined about 72,696 ZEC, equal to roughly 28% of all Zcash mined during that period.
Fortitude Mining Holdings has appointed former Hut 8 executive Jaime Leverton as CEO as the Zcash-focused crypto company prepares for a public listing through a merger with HeartSciences. The move comes as the miner continues scaling up its ZEC production and is aiming for a Nasdaq listing under the ticker TUDE.
New Leadership for the Public Listing
Leverton starts on September 21 and will succeed Andrea Childs, who will become chief operating officer. After the deal closes, Leverton will remain CEO of the combined company, which is expected to take the Fortitude name under the current plan.
The transaction was announced in June and is expected to close in the fourth quarter, assuming shareholders and other standard conditions approve it. Based on HeartSciences' current share price and the shares expected to be issued to Digital Currency Group and HeartSciences preferred shareholders, Fortitude estimates the combined company's implied valuation at at least $400 million (€347 million).
Leverton comes from a sector where pressure on Zcash miners has clearly increased in 2026. According to market data, the network's hash rate has more than doubled this year, while institutional players such as Cypherpunk Technologies have built large mining fleets. At the same time, Zcash has become more attractive for miners because revenue per megawatt hour is about four times higher than for Bitcoin. That lines up with the higher revenue per megawatt hour Grayscale had already pointed out earlier for Zcash mining.
Zcash Remains the Focus
Fortitude was spun out in January 2025 from Foundry's self-mining arm by Digital Currency Group. The company describes itself as a venture mining platform that deploys capital across proof-of-work networks, with Zcash as its main focus.
That focus shows up in the numbers. In the first half of 2026, Fortitude mined about 72,696 ZEC, equal to roughly 28% of all ZEC mined during that period. In the second quarter, revenue came in at $20.9 million (€18.1 million).
The miner has more than 60 megawatts of power capacity across seven sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and New York. Childs said that in her new role as COO, she will focus on mining operations, fleet and infrastructure strategy, and industry relationships.
Why This Matters
For European crypto readers, this deal shows that mining companies are judged not just on scale, but also on public-market structure and management quality. Fortitude's move to reposition itself through a Nasdaq path highlights how mature the market around Zcash has become.
The combination of higher mining revenue, more network activity, and growing institutional interest makes Zcash more visible to professional players than earlier this year. That does not mean the sector is getting calmer, but it does mean competition among miners and investor attention are both increasing.
