Key facts
- Fortitude Mining appointed former Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton as its new CEO, effective Sept. 21.
- Leverton will succeed Andrea Childs, who will transition to chief operating officer.
- Fortitude plans to go public through a merger with HeartSciences.
- The combined company is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker TUDE.
- Fortitude mined 72,696 ZEC in the first half of 2026, representing about 28% of the network's production.
- The company reported $20.9 million in revenue for the second quarter.
Fortitude Mining, a Zcash-focused cryptocurrency miner wholly owned by Digital Currency Group, has appointed Jaime Leverton as its new chief executive officer, effective September 21. Leverton, formerly the CEO of Hut 8, will succeed Andrea Childs, who is transitioning to the role of chief operating officer. This leadership change comes as Fortitude prepares for a public listing through a proposed merger with HeartSciences, a transaction anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. The combined entity is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker TUDE, pending regulatory approval.
In the first half of 2026, Fortitude mined 72,696 ZEC, accounting for approximately 28% of the Zcash network's total production during that period. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $20.9 million. Fortitude operates over 60 megawatts of power capacity across seven sites in the US and has agreed to acquire 9,000 Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro machines, expected to enhance its equihash hashrate by 7.56 GSol/s upon delivery in the fourth quarter.
Zcash (ZEC) has experienced a significant price rally, trading around $1,424 on Thursday. The token has surged approximately 185% over the past 30 days and over 2,600% in the last year. This recent upward momentum follows Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang's disclosure that the crypto investment firm holds ZEC and has invested in the Zcash Open Development Lab. Huang highlighted Zcash as a "private complement to Bitcoin" and supported its inflation-funded developer fund, emphasizing the growing importance of long-term funding for privacy technologies in the face of advancements in AI and quantum computing. Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, with ZEC leading the sector, have notably outperformed the broader crypto market over the past year.