Fortitude Mining, a Digital Currency Group-owned Zcash mining platform, plans to go public through an all-stock merger with HeartSciences, a Nasdaq-listed AI medical technology company.
The companies said in a Tuesday press release, June 23, that the combined company is expected to operate under the Fortitude brand and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker TUDE, subject to approval.
- The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending approval by HeartSciences shareholders.
Fortitude is currently wholly owned by Digital Currency Group, the crypto conglomerate led by Barry Silbert. After the merger, DCG is expected to own about 95% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.
The deal gives Fortitude a public-market route at a time when Zcash has become one of crypto's strongest recent rebound stories. The companies said ZEC, Zcash's native token, was up more than 1,000% over the trailing 12 months as of June 15.
- Fortitude began mining ZEC in 2019 and said it has scaled annualized production to 157,000 ZEC, or about 366 ZEC per day, as of May 31.
- Andrea Childs, Fortitude's CEO, will lead the combined company after closing, while HeartSciences CEO Andrew Simpson is expected to continue running the healthcare business unit.
- HeartSciences shares jumped 65.5% to $2.90 on Nasdaq after the announcement, per Google Finance data.
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