TLDR
- Zcash miner Fortitude Mining is merging with medical tech firm HeartSciences in an all-stock reverse merger
- The deal will list Fortitude on Nasdaq under the ticker TUDE, without a traditional IPO
- DCG founder Barry Silbert’s firm will own about 95% of the combined company
- HeartSciences stock surged around 55–60% on the news
- Zcash dropped over 60% earlier this month after a counterfeiting vulnerability was disclosed, but has since partially recovered
Fortitude Mining, a Zcash miner owned by Digital Currency Group, is merging with HeartSciences, a small medical technology company listed on Nasdaq. The deal will give Fortitude access to public markets without going through a traditional IPO.
The combined company will trade under the ticker TUDE on Nasdaq, pending regulatory approval. DCG will hold around 95% of the new entity. Existing HeartSciences shareholders will keep a minority stake.
A Reverse Merger, Not a Business Synergy Play
Fortitude CEO Andrea Childs was clear about the purpose of the deal. It has nothing to do with combining the two businesses operationally. The goal is access to capital.
“Going public is going to provide us with the flexibility and access to capital to really accelerate our core strategies,” Childs said. Those strategies focus primarily on Zcash mining and expanding its power portfolio.
HeartSciences CEO Andrew Simpson said the deal would free the company from the constant need to raise capital. HeartSciences has reported net losses for several consecutive years. Its net loss widened to $8.77 million in fiscal 2025, up from $6.61 million the year before.
Despite those losses, HeartSciences launched its MyoVista Insights software platform in fiscal 2025, which is designed to update older ECG management systems.
Fortitude Is Not a Digital Asset Treasury Company
Childs pushed back against comparisons to the recent wave of companies buying crypto tokens and holding them on their balance sheets. Fortitude has been actively mining Zcash since 2019 and does not currently hold a large amount of the token.
She did leave the door open for that to change. “We may make the decision to hold more Zcash on the balance sheet such that we don’t have to fund the business by liquidating Zcash,” she said.
Fortitude scaled its annualized production to 157,000 Zcash as of May 31. At roughly $413 per token, Zcash carries a market cap of around $6.92 billion.
Zcash Had a Rough Month
Zcash dropped more than 60% earlier in June after a counterfeiting vulnerability was disclosed, triggering a broad selloff. The Zcash Open Development Lab issued a two-step emergency update, and the token recovered some of its losses.
Despite that, DCG founder Barry Silbert remains committed. “We believe Zcash represents one of the most compelling opportunities in digital assets,” he said.
Silbert has suggested that 5% to 10% of Bitcoin’s total market cap could eventually shift into privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Childs echoed that view, saying she believes Zcash has the potential to reach roughly 10% of Bitcoin’s market cap.
Bitcoin’s current market cap stands at approximately $1.25 trillion. Zcash was trading at around $415 at the time of the announcement, down about 7% on the day.
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