Fortitude Mining goes public via reverse merger as HSCS jumps 91%

Zcash miner Fortitude Mining Holdings will go public through an all-stock reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed HeartSciences Inc., a deal that gives the Digital Currency Group subsidiary a public listing without a traditional initial public offering.

"Fortitude's business model is designed to allow us to move quickly when we see promising opportunities," Andrea Childs, chief executive officer of Fortitude, said in a statement. "As a public company, we anticipate having the flexibility and access to capital to accelerate our core venture mining platform."

The combined company will operate under the Fortitude name and trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker TUDE, subject to regulatory approval. DCG, which wholly owns Fortitude, is expected to hold about 95% of the combined entity on a fully diluted basis. Existing HeartSciences shareholders will retain roughly 5%, while HeartSciences CEO Andrew Simpson will continue leading the healthcare business unit after closing. Shares of HeartSciences rose as much as 91% on the announcement, according to Google Finance data.

The transaction reflects a growing trend of crypto mining operators accessing public markets through mergers rather than traditional IPOs. Bitcoin miners Core Scientific and Cipher Mining both went public via SPAC transactions in 2022. For HeartSciences, which reported a net loss of $8.77 million in fiscal 2025 on minimal commercial revenue, the deal provides an exit from what Simpson called "the constant cycle of raising capital" while allowing its AI-enabled cardiac diagnostics business to continue operating.

Fortitude began mining Zcash in 2019 and has scaled annualized production to 157,000 ZEC as of May 31, equivalent to about 366 ZEC per day. ZEC traded at about $413 at the time of publication, giving the token a market cap of $6.92 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. Zcash has delivered a trailing 12-month return of more than 1,000% as of June 15, according to Investing.com data.

The company generated about $90 million in gross revenue in fiscal 2025 and roughly $20 million in adjusted EBITDA, with zero debt and about $13 million in cash and digital assets held. Fortitude operates 48 megawatts of owned data center capacity across six sites in the US and expects to reach about 80 MW by the end of 2026 through acquisitions and greenfield development. The company also runs about 2 exahash per second of Bitcoin miners alongside Scrypt-based miners for Dogecoin and Litecoin.

Canaccord Genuity and Ducera Partners are acting as financial advisors to Fortitude. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to HeartSciences shareholder approval and other customary conditions.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.