Bitcoin Miner Ionic Climbs 25% On Nasdaq Debut, Joining Hut 8’s AI Shift

Ionic Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: IOND) climbed more than 25% from its $50 opening price to nearly $63 in its Nasdaq debut Tuesday, July 28. The move gave the Bitcoin miner an implied valuation of roughly $2.75 billion.

Ionic went public through a direct listing rather than a traditional initial public offering (IPO). Existing shareholders sold their shares directly, and the company raised no new capital.

From Celsius Bankruptcy to Nasdaq

Ionic Digital emerged in January 2024 from Celsius Network’s bankruptcy. It took over most of Celsius Mining’s bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment, plus about $195 million in cash and 540 BTC.

Hut 8 (NASDAQ: HUT) initially managed those mining sites under a four-year deal signed in February 2024. Ionic ended the arrangement less than a year later and took direct control, though Hut 8 kept a minority stake. Hut 8’s own stock has surged this year on similar AI hosting deals.

Betting on AI Infrastructure

Ionic now leases its 234-megawatt Cedarvale facility in West Texas to AI cloud provider Nscale. The 10-year deal is worth about $2 billion in contracted revenue. A February amendment could push that total to $2.6 billion.

Ionic hasn’t stopped mining Bitcoin. It still runs four sites in Midland, Texas, and produced just under 25 BTC in May, on top of a 2,861 BTC treasury. Output should shrink as more capacity shifts to AI clients.

The debut adds Ionic to a wider group of miners pivoting to AI hosting to smooth out Bitcoin’s price swings. Hut 8, TeraWulf, and IREN have already taken similar paths into longer-term hyperscaler contracts.

Ionic’s listing gives Celsius creditors a tradable stock instead of a private claim. It also ties Ionic’s future more to AI wins than to bitcoin’s price.

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