Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure firm Ionic Digital has completed its public listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market through a direct listing, marking a significant milestone for a company that has rapidly pivoted from cryptocurrency mining toward high-performance computing and AI data center infrastructure.
The company's Class A common stock began trading on July 28 under the ticker "IOND," completing a listing process first announced last year. Unlike a traditional initial public offering, the direct listing did not involve the sale of new shares, meaning Ionic received no proceeds from the transaction itself. Nasdaq set a reference price of $53 per share, and the stock opened at $50 before closing its first day at $62.90—an increase of nearly 26 percent from the opening price. That closing price gave the company a market capitalization of approximately $2.8 billion.
"Today marks a defining moment in Ionic Digital's journey as we complete our listing on Nasdaq," said Andy Stewart, CEO of Ionic Digital. Stewart noted that the listing would create liquidity for the company's shareholders as it continues its transition toward high-performance computing and AI infrastructure, a strategic shift that has reshaped the firm's business model since its formation.
Ionic Digital was created in 2024 through the acquisition of Celsius Mining's assets following the bankruptcy of parent company Celsius Network. Approximately 37 million Ionic shares were subsequently distributed to Celsius creditors as part of the restructuring. Ahead of the listing, the company secured a $400 million equity investment from a group that included Attestor, Oaktree Capital Management, Sachem Head Capital Management, Citadel, and Weiss Asset Management. That June transaction valued the company at $2 billion before the new investment.
The company operates several Bitcoin mining facilities in West Texas but has increasingly redirected its focus toward data center infrastructure for AI and HPC workloads. In a key strategic move, Ionic has agreed to lease its 234MW Cedarvale facility in Ward County, Texas, to AI cloud provider Nscale under a ten-year agreement expected to generate approximately $1.95 billion in contracted revenue. The site is set to support Nscale's broader infrastructure agreement with Microsoft, and Nscale has also contracted for an additional 89MW at the property if the capacity becomes available. Ionic is currently seeking regulatory and grid approval to expand the campus to as much as 700MW by the end of 2027.
The listing comes at a time when investors are increasingly valuing companies that combine digital infrastructure assets with AI-driven demand. Ionic expects to generate between $190 million and $195 million in revenue during 2026, with 90 to 92 percent of that forecast coming from digital infrastructure leasing—a clear indication of how far the company has moved from its crypto-mining origins. The successful debut also underscores the broader trend of infrastructure-focused firms leveraging public markets to fund their expansion into AI-ready data centers, even as the sector faces questions about power availability and construction timelines.