Crypto-Healthcare Merger
HeartSciences and Fortitude Mining Merge to Form Publicly Traded Zcash Company on Nasdaq
Key Points
The merger features a dual-class equity structure with new non-economic Class V voting stock; Fortitude equityholders receive non-voting units exchangeable into Class A shares, and Digital Currency Group is expected to hold about 95% of the combined company’s equity at closing, leaving HeartSciences with roughly 5%.
Fortitude is wholly owned by Digital Currency Group, and its Zcash-focused venture mining platform has scaled to about 157,000 ZEC annualized production (roughly 366 ZEC per day) as of May 31, 2026.
Zcash has delivered trailing twelve-month returns of roughly 1,000%+ as of June 15, 2026, underscoring the cryptocurrency’s high-growth, high-volatility profile behind the venture-mining business.
HeartSciences currently trades with a market cap around $9.1 million, an approximate $2.86 share price, and an elevated price-to-sales ratio (~408.59) alongside negative earnings, indicating a high valuation despite ongoing losses.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026 and the combined company will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker TUDE, subject to Nasdaq approval and regulatory clearances.
Zcash miner Fortitude Mining Holdings and AI medical-tech firm HeartSciences have agreed to an all-stock merger that will create the first Zcash-focused public mining company on the Nasdaq, Nasdaq reported. The combined company will trade under the ticker TUDE and carry the Fortitude brand, with the deal expected to close in the second half of 2026.
The announcement sent HeartSciences shares surging as much as 60.5% on the day, according to Timothy Sykes. Digital Currency Group, which wholly owns Fortitude, is set to hold roughly 95% of the merged company. Existing HeartSciences shareholders will be left with about 5%.
Fortitude's Zcash Mining Machine Drives the Deal
Fortitude is not a small operation. The company mined the equivalent of 157,000 ZEC per year — about 366 ZEC per day — as of May 31, 2026, per Las Vegas Sun. It posted roughly $90 million in gross revenue and $20 million in adjusted EBITDA for 2025, according to FX Empire.
Fortitude calls its strategy "venture mining." That means it finds early-stage cryptocurrencies that use Proof-of-Work — the same energy-intensive method Bitcoin uses — and mines them before they go mainstream. Fortitude has been mining Zcash since 2019, according to CoinCodex.
DCG Gets a Nasdaq Backdoor, HSCS Shareholders Get Diluted
The deal uses an "Up-C" structure. That means Fortitude equityholders get non-voting units they can later swap for Class A shares. A new class of non-economic Class V voting stock keeps control inside DCG. The result: HeartSciences' existing investors see their stake shrink from 100% to just 5%, per Investing.com.
Critics call it a backdoor listing — DCG uses HeartSciences' Nasdaq shell to go public while legacy shareholders lose their med-tech thesis entirely. The merger carries a $2.5 million termination fee under specific conditions, according to FX Empire. Advisors for Fortitude include Canaccord Genuity and Ropes & Gray LLP.
Zcash Hits 1,000% Returns but Faces Real Risks
Zcash has delivered trailing twelve-month returns of over 1,000%, trading near $487 per token as of June 15, 2026, according to TipRanks. DCG founder Barry Silbert has described ZEC as combining "Bitcoin-like scarcity with privacy and security features" that matter for the future of on-chain finance.
The asset is not without danger. On June 4, 2026, developers disclosed an "Orchard vulnerability" in Zcash's privacy layer. The price dropped 50% before recovering sharply, per CoinCodex. Regulators have also historically targeted privacy coins, though the SEC closed its probe into the Zcash Foundation in early 2026 without taking action.
HeartSciences Gets a Lifeline, But Loses Its Identity
Before this deal, HeartSciences was in trouble. The company had just $10,000 in trailing revenue against a negative EBITDA of $7.77 million, according to Investing.com. Its market cap sat around $9.1 million with a share price near $2.86. The merger gives it survival via the high-growth crypto sector.
Under the merged structure, Fortitude CEO Andrea Childs will lead the combined company. HeartSciences CEO Andrew Simpson will stay on to run the healthcare unit as a subsidiary. Childs said the public listing will give the company "flexibility and access to capital to accelerate our core venture mining platform," per CoinCodex. The deal still needs Nasdaq approval and shareholder sign-off.
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