Ionic Digital jumps 25% in Nasdaq debut after expanding Celsius bitcoin mining assets into AI infrastructure

Bitcoin miner and AI infrastructure firm Ionic Digital surged more than 25% to nearly $63 in its Nasdaq debut on Tuesday, giving the company an implied valuation of roughly $2.75 billion.

Ionic went public via a direct listing under the ticker IOND, opening at $50 on Tuesday against a $53 reference price.

The company traces its roots to the 2022 collapse of crypto lender Celsius Network. Ionic was formed in January 2024 to acquire mostly all of Celsius Mining's assets during the firm's bankruptcy restructuring proceedings.

That gave Ionic Celsius' bitcoin mining equipment and infrastructure, roughly $195 million in cash and 540 BTC, worth roughly $35 million at the time.

Hut 8 initially managed Ionic's mining operations under a four-year agreement, but Ionic terminated the arrangement less than one year in and took direct control of its sites while Hut 8 retained a minority stake in the company.

Ionic began expanding into AI and high-performance computing infrastructure in 2025, following a path also taken by former manager Hut 8 and a growing number of other bitcoin miners looking to capture higher and more stable returns from their power assets.

In October, the company signed a 10-year lease with AI cloud provider Nscale covering its Ward County site in West Texas. The agreement represented nearly $2 billion in contracted revenue, with an amendment signed in February potentially increasing that figure to $2.6 billion according to an SEC filing at the time.

Ionic still continues to mine bitcoin from four sites in Midland, Texas, although it expects production to taper off as it repurposes more of its infrastructure for AI workloads. The company mined just under 25 BTC in May, bringing its currently listed total to 2,861 BTC.

That balance would place Ionic at number 28 among publicly traded corporate bitcoin holders, just behind the Asian ready-to-eat meal company DDC Enterprise Limited, according to Bitcoin Treasuries. Ionic has not yet been added to its tracker's rankings.