Zcash miner Fortitude names former Hut 8 chief Jaime Leverton CEO ahead of Nasdaq deal
Leverton will lead the DCG-owned mining company as it pursues a public listing through its proposed merger with HeartSciences.
- Fortitude named former Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton as CEO ahead of its planned Nasdaq listing through a merger with HeartSciences.
- The Zcash-focused miner produced about 28% of all ZEC mined in the first half of 2026 and reported $20.9 million in second-quarter revenue.
- Andrea Childs will become COO, while the proposed combined company could carry an implied valuation of at least $400 million.
Her appointment comes as Fortitude expands its exposure to Zcash, whose ZEC token has risen more than 2,000% over the past year. Its market capitalization is roughly $21 billion.
Fortitude mined 72,696 ZEC during the six months through June, about 28% of the network’s total production during that period. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $20.9 million.
The miner operates more than 60 megawatts of power capacity across seven sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas and New York.
“Fortitude is taking a differentiated approach to mining,” Leverton said in the release, pointing to the company’s combination of owned power, mining sites and in-house operations.
The company describes itself as a “venture mining” platform that allocates capital across proof-of-work networks while maintaining a primary focus on Zcash. The company is wholly owned by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group.
Childs said she will concentrate on mining operations, fleet and infrastructure strategy, and industry relationships in her new role as COO.
