Fortitude Zcash Miner Plans Nasdaq Listing Through HeartSciences Merger

Zcash miner Fortitude Mining Holdings has agreed to merge with HeartSciences in an all-stock transaction that will bring Fortitude into the public markets without going through a traditional initial public offering. The combined company is expected to operate under the Fortitude name and to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol TUDE, pending regulatory approval.

Under the deal announced Tuesday, Fortitude’s management team will control the combined business. HeartSciences shareholders are set to retain a minority stake, while HeartSciences continues to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker HSCS until the merger closes.

Key takeaways

• Fortitude Mining will reach Nasdaq markets through a merger with HeartSciences, avoiding a conventional IPO.
• The combined company is expected to trade under the Fortitude name with the proposed Nasdaq ticker TUDE, subject to regulatory approval.
• Fortitude’s management will run the combined entity, while HeartSciences investors will hold a minority position after the transaction.
• HeartSciences has remained unprofitable, but the company continued developing its AI-enabled cardiac diagnostics products while pursuing capital.
• Shares of HeartSciences surged on Tuesday, reflecting investor appetite for the public-market pathway created by the merger.

How the merger reshapes ownership and control

The transaction is structured as an all-stock deal, with Fortitude effectively using HeartSciences as a publicly listed vehicle. The combined company will be led by Fortitude’s management team and expected to continue operating under the Fortitude brand. HeartSciences CEO Andrew Simpson framed the rationale as an opportunity to reduce ongoing financing pressure—saying the deal could “free the company from the constant cycle of raising capital” while giving shareholders what he believes is a stronger path forward.

The planned Nasdaq listing for the combined entity—TUDE—will hinge on regulatory clearance, and until then the market will treat HSCS as the traded proxy for the eventual combination. If approved, the reshaped corporate structure would mark a notable pivot: Fortitude’s cryptocurrency mining business would take center stage inside a Nasdaq-listed framework.

Why investors are watching: a reverse merger to get public-market access

Even though Fortitude and HeartSciences operate in different industries—crypto mining versus AI-enabled cardiac diagnostics—the mechanics of the deal resemble a reverse merger. In practice, the approach can function as a shortcut to public markets compared with launching a fresh IPO.

The deal also follows a pattern seen in parts of the crypto sector where companies have accessed Nasdaq or other public listings through mergers rather than traditional offerings. Earlier examples referenced in the reporting include Bitcoin miner Core Scientific, which went public via a SPAC merger in 2022, and Cipher Mining, which also entered public markets through a SPAC transaction. This merger with HeartSciences appears to follow the same broad blueprint: combine with an already listed company and restructure the operating entity post-transaction.

For crypto-focused investors, the key question will be what the public-market listing means for Fortitude’s visibility, liquidity, and ability to finance operations going forward. For HeartSciences investors, the challenge is that the business they currently hold shares of remains medical diagnostics until the merger closes—after which their equity exposure changes meaningfully toward crypto mining.

Business realities: HeartSciences losses, Fortitude mining scale

Before the merger, HeartSciences had not reached meaningful commercial scale. According to MarketScreener, the company reported minimal revenue in fiscal 2025 and widened net losses to $8.77 million from $6.61 million a year earlier. The financial profile underscores why management may have been pursuing a path that could stabilize funding and extend runway.

Still, HeartSciences continued work on its product roadmap. The company launched its MyoVista Insights software platform in fiscal 2025, which is positioned to modernize existing ECG management systems. In other words, the company’s progress was aimed at product development rather than a near-term shift to profitable revenue generation.

Fortitude, by contrast, provided limited financial disclosures as a privately held company, but shared operational scaling in its announcement. It said it had increased annualized production to 157,000 Zcash (ZEC) as of May 31. At the time of publication, CoinMarketCap data showed ZEC trading at about $413, implying a market capitalization around $6.92 billion.

For traders and long-term investors alike, the merger therefore pairs two very different operating models: an unprofitable medical diagnostics business seeking capital stability and a mining operation tied to network economics and token price. The market’s reaction to the announcement suggests many participants are prioritizing access to the public markets and potential future growth—despite the fundamental uncertainty that comes with both companies’ distinct risk factors.

Market reaction and what comes next

Shares of HeartSciences climbed sharply following the announcement. According to Google Finance data cited in the original reporting, the stock rose by as much as 91% on Tuesday, even while the transaction remains pending completion and regulatory approval.

As the merger process advances, investors should watch for confirmation of the proposed Nasdaq ticker and the timing and conditions of regulatory review. They’ll also likely focus on how Fortitude’s mining output and operating costs translate into public-company reporting once the combined entity is formed—especially since Fortitude disclosed relatively little financial detail as a private firm.

In the near term, the biggest uncertainty is not whether the deal is advancing—it is whether the post-merger structure delivers the kind of improved capital access and investor alignment that both sides are describing, while managing the business-model mismatch that comes with a crypto miner and an AI healthcare developer sitting under one Nasdaq-listed umbrella.