Zcash miner Fortitude to go public via HeartSciences merger

Fortitude Mining, a private Zcash miner, will become a publicly traded company through an all-stock merger with Nasdaq-listed HeartSciences announced Tuesday. Fortitude’s management will lead the combined business and the merged company is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker TUDE, subject to regulatory approval. HeartSciences shareholders will retain a minority stake. HeartSciences shares, which continue to trade under the HSCS symbol until the transaction closes, rose as much as 91% on Tuesday.

The transaction is structured as a reverse merger, giving Fortitude access to Nasdaq without a traditional initial public offering. HeartSciences develops AI-enabled cardiac diagnostics and has reported limited commercial revenue. In fiscal 2025 the company recorded minimal revenue and a net loss of $8.77 million, up from $6.61 million a year earlier. During fiscal 2025 HeartSciences also launched the MyoVista Insights software platform for ECG management systems.

HeartSciences chief executive Andrew Simpson described the agreement as freeing the company from ‘the constant cycle of raising capital’ and indicated it provides the best path forward for shareholders while allowing the healthcare operations to continue under his leadership.

Fortitude disclosed limited financial details but reported it had scaled annualized production to 157,000 Zcash (ZEC) as of May 31. ZEC traded around $413 per coin at the time of publication, implying a token market capitalization near $6.92 billion. Fortitude mines digital assets and will operate the combined company under the Fortitude name if the merger is completed.

The transaction follows a pattern in the crypto-mining industry of using mergers and SPAC transactions to reach public markets. Bitcoin miner Core Scientific and Cipher Mining previously accessed public listings through SPAC deals. A reverse merger uses an existing publicly traded company as the vehicle to list a private company, offering a faster route to public trading than a conventional IPO.

Both companies described the exchange as an all-stock transaction and expect the combined company to operate on Nasdaq after obtaining required approvals. Financial specifics for Fortitude beyond production figures were not disclosed in the announcement.