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Fortitude Mining just got a new boss. Jaime Leverton, who previously ran Hut 8 through a major merger and its Nasdaq debut, takes over as CEO on September 21, replacing Andrea Childs, who moves into the chief operating officer seat.
Leverton’s hire isn’t random timing. Fortitude is pushing toward its own public listing, and the company wants someone who’s already done this before. At Hut 8, Leverton navigated a complicated cross-border merger and steered the Bitcoin miner onto Nasdaq — exactly the kind of experience Fortitude needs right now. Childs isn’t going anywhere; she’s staying on as COO, which probably means the operational muscle stays intact while Leverton handles the capital markets push. The plan is to go public through a proposed merger with HeartSciences, with the combined entity set to trade under the ticker TUDE on Nasdaq. Regulatory approval is still pending, and the deal is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2026.
Fortitude is fully owned by Digital Currency Group and has been mining Zcash since 2019.
Zcash Output and the 9,000-Machine Bet
The numbers are pretty striking. In the first half of 2026, Fortitude mined 72,696 ZEC — roughly 28% of the entire network’s production for that period. That’s not a minor player; that’s a dominant one. Revenue for the second quarter came in at $20.9 million. The company runs more than 60 megawatts of power capacity spread across sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and New York.
And it’s not done expanding. Fortitude bought 9,000 Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro machines, set to arrive in the fourth quarter. When they land, they’re expected to add 7.56 GSol/s to Fortitude’s equihash hashrate. That’s a significant jump in raw mining power, and it comes right as ZEC’s market price is making serious moves.
Fortitude became a vertically integrated platform in 2025. The combination of that vertical structure, the geographic spread of its sites, and the incoming hardware order puts the company in a strong operational position heading into the listing process. Whether that’s enough to satisfy public market investors is a different question — and unclear yet.
ZEC at $1,424: Paradigm’s Matt Huang Backs the Rally
Zcash itself is on a tear. The token hit $1,424, up 185% over the past month and more than 2,600% over the past year. Those are numbers that make people pay attention.
Part of the fuel came from Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, who went public with the firm’s investment in ZEC and its backing of the Zcash Open Development Lab. Huang made the case that funding privacy technologies matters more as AI and quantum computing keep advancing. That kind of endorsement from a name like Paradigm carries weight in crypto circles, and it seems to have moved sentiment.
Zcash runs on zero-knowledge proofs, which let users transact privately without exposing transaction details on a public ledger. It’s a technical feature that’s been around for years but is getting fresh attention. Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies as a group saw a 213% increase from Bitcoin’s 2025 peak, per the source data. ZEC alone makes up 62% of the privacy sector’s market capitalization. That’s a big slice.
The broader privacy coin market has been something of an afterthought for most of the past few years, overshadowed by DeFi, NFTs, and layer-2 narratives. But the combination of AI-driven surveillance concerns and Huang’s public backing seems to have shifted the conversation. Fortitude, which has been grinding Zcash since 2019, is now sitting at the center of a market that’s suddenly hot.
The Nasdaq Path and What’s Still Murky
The merger with HeartSciences is the big variable. The transaction needs regulatory sign-off, and no one’s saying that’s guaranteed. If it clears, Fortitude gets access to public capital markets under the TUDE ticker — a move that could open up a different class of investors who can’t or won’t touch private crypto mining companies.
Digital Currency Group’s full ownership of Fortitude adds another layer to the story. DCG has had a complicated few years in crypto, and how that history plays with public market investors is hard to predict. It’s probably not irrelevant.
What’s clear is that Leverton was brought in for a reason. His Hut 8 experience is specific and applicable — he’s done the merger-to-Nasdaq playbook before. Whether Fortitude’s Zcash-focused model translates into a compelling public equity story depends on a lot of things: ZEC’s price holding, the hardware arriving on schedule, regulatory approval coming through, and public investors buying the privacy-coin narrative.
The 9,000 Antminer Z15 Pros are due in Q4. So is the HeartSciences deal, if everything goes right.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jaime Leverton and why did Fortitude hire her?
Jaime Leverton is the former CEO of Hut 8, where she led the company through a major merger and its Nasdaq listing. Fortitude brought her in as CEO, effective September 21, as the company pursues its own planned Nasdaq listing via a merger with HeartSciences.
How much Zcash did Fortitude mine in the first half of 2026?
Fortitude mined 72,696 ZEC in the first half of 2026, which was about 28% of the total network production for that period, with second-quarter revenue of $20.9 million.
Why It Matters
The appointment of Jaime Leverton as CEO of Fortitude Mining is significant as it underscores the growing trend of experienced leadership in the crypto sector, particularly as companies seek to navigate the complexities of public listings amid volatile market conditions. Leverton's track record with Hut 8, especially in managing mergers and achieving a Nasdaq listing, positions Fortitude Mining favorably as it aims to replicate similar success. This leadership change comes at a crucial time when Zcash's price surge may attract heightened interest in crypto-related investments, making strategic management even more essential for firms looking to capitalize on favorable market dynamics.
