Fortitude Mining Holdings has designated former Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton as its chief executive while the Zcash (ZEC)-centric mining enterprise gears up for a public listing through a planned integration with Nasdaq-listed HeartSciences (HSCS).
Leverton is scheduled to assume leadership on September 21, taking over from Andrea Childs, who will transition into the role of chief operating officer, according to an official press release.
Following the finalization of the transaction, Leverton will continue as CEO, at which point the merged entity is anticipated to adopt the Fortitude moniker and list on Nasdaq utilizing the ticker symbol “TUDE.”
The arrangement, revealed in June, is projected to conclude within the fourth quarter, pending shareholder approval along with other standard prerequisites. Drawing from HeartSciences’ prevailing stock valuation alongside the equities slated for allocation to Fortitude parent organization Digital Currency Group and HeartSciences preferred investors, the amalgamated enterprise projects an implied valuation of no less than $400 million, per corporate evaluations.
Fortitude originally emerged as a spinoff from Foundry’s proprietary mining operations courtesy of Digital Currency Group in January 2025.
In her most recent post, Leverton directed institutional digital-asset manager ReserveOne. Prior to that, she functioned as CEO of bitcoin miner Hut 8, guiding its combination with US Bitcoin Corp. as well as its evolution from a Canadian-registered mining entity into a United States-based corporation featuring both bitcoin extraction and high-performance computing operations.
Her onboarding coincides with Fortitude scaling up its involvement with Zcash, whose native ZEC token has surged upwards of 2,000% across the preceding year. Its current market valuation sits near $21 billion.
During the six-month timeframe ending in June, Fortitude extracted 72,696 ZEC, accounting for roughly 28% of the entire network’s output over that span. Furthermore, the organization posted second-quarter revenues amounting to $20.9 million.
The mining firm controls in excess of 60 megawatts of electrical capacity distributed throughout seven installations located in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and New York.
“Fortitude is taking a differentiated approach to mining,” Leverton noted within the announcement, drawing attention to the enterprise’s synthesis of proprietary energy resources, mining locations, and internal operational execution.
The organization defines itself as a “venture mining” platform distributing capital across proof-of-work networks while retaining a core concentration on Zcash. The business remains fully owned by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group.
Childs indicated she will direct her focus toward mining operations, fleet and infrastructure planning, and sector partnerships as part of her new responsibilities as COO.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/09/17/zcash-miner-fortitude-names-former-hut-8-chief-jaime-leverton-ceo-ahead-of-nasdaq-deal.
