Fortitude Names Hut 8 Alum as CEO Ahead of Public Listing Push
Fortitude Mining has named Jaime Leverton as its new CEO, effective September 21. Leverton previously led Hut 8, overseeing its merger with US Bitcoin Corp and transition to a Nasdaq-listed entity. She will take over from Andrea Childs, who is stepping into the role of chief operating officer.
The appointment comes ahead of Fortitude's planned merger with HeartSciences, announced in June. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 and bring the combined company to the public markets under the ticker TUDE, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Leverton brings executive experience in scaling and restructuring crypto mining businesses for public-market access. Fortitude has been a major player in Zcash's proof-of-work ecosystem, having mined 72,696 ZEC in the first half of 2026, representing about 28% of the network's total production.
The company also operates over 60 megawatts of power capacity across seven sites and recently agreed to purchase 9,000 Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro mining machines. The expected addition of 7.56 GSol/s of equihash hashrate will increase Fortitude's capacity heading into the merger.