Ionic Digital (NASDAQ: IOND) shares rose substantially on their first day of public trading on the Nasdaq, as investors responded positively to the company’s conversion of assets originally acquired from Celsius Network’s bitcoin mining operations into long-term infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
Under the ticker IOND, the stock began trading at $50 and closed the session near $63, delivering a gain of approximately 25–26 percent from the open and roughly 19 percent above the $53 reference price set by the exchange.
This performance pointed to an implied market value of about $2.75 billion to $2.8 billion and ranked among the more significant direct listings in recent years.
The firm was established in January 2024 specifically to take control of the bulk of Celsius Mining’s equipment, power infrastructure, cash reserves, and bitcoin holdings as part of the crypto lender’s court-supervised restructuring.
Eligible claimholders received tens of millions of Class A shares in the new entity, and the direct listing now supplies those stakeholders with a public venue for liquidity.
Because the transaction was structured as a direct listing rather than a conventional initial public offering, the company issued no new shares and received no proceeds.
After initially relying on a third-party manager for its mining activities, Ionic assumed full operational oversight of its sites.
In 2025 the business began a deliberate shift away from pure cryptocurrency production toward leasing powered capacity for AI and high-performance computing workloads—an approach already adopted by several other former bitcoin miners seeking more stable returns from their energy assets.
The centerpiece of this strategy is the 234-megawatt Ward County site in West Texas.
Mining activity there was wound down in late 2025, and the entire current power capacity was placed under a 126-month triple-net lease with AI infrastructure provider Nscale.
The contract is projected to generate nearly $2 billion in committed revenue, with an expansion option that could raise the total closer to $2.6 billion if additional capacity receives approval.
Fixed monthly payments are scheduled to start in the second half of 2026.
Limited bitcoin mining continues at smaller Texas locations, and the company holds a treasury exceeding 2,800 bitcoin.
Management nevertheless forecasts that the large majority of 2026 revenue—guided at up to $195 million—will come from infrastructure leasing.
Quarterly results already reflect the change, with leasing income dominating while mining revenue has fallen sharply from prior-year levels.
Ahead of the listing, Ionic closed a $400 million private placement of convertible preferred shares and warrants at a valuation consistent with the reference price used for the debut; those preferred shares converted into common equity once trading began.
The solid opening-day advance highlights market confidence in the combination of established power assets, multi-year contracted AI demand, and a liquidity event for former Celsius stakeholders. Attention will now focus on the pace at which additional capacity is converted and the consistency of cash flows generated under the long-term leases.