Ionic Digital shares climbed more than 25% to nearly $63 in their Nasdaq debut Tuesday, giving the former Celsius mining operation an implied market value of about $2.75 billion as it pivots toward AI data-center hosting. The company began trading under the ticker IOND through a direct listing, opening at $50 against a $53 reference price.
The debut places a public-market valuation on infrastructure that emerged from Celsius Network’s 2022 bankruptcy and is now being reworked for a different customer base. Ionic continues to mine Bitcoin at four Texas sites, but its largest disclosed commercial commitment is a 10-year agreement with AI cloud provider Nscale that could generate as much as $2.6 billion in contracted revenue.
That mix leaves Ionic with two distinct operating exposures: Bitcoin production, whose revenue depends on network conditions and the Bitcoin price, and server-hosting capacity leased to an AI computing customer over a long-term contract. As the company converts more electrical capacity and facilities to high-performance computing, Bitcoin mining is expected to become a smaller part of its operations.
From Celsius assets to Nasdaq listing
Ionic was formed in January 2024 to acquire most of Celsius Mining’s assets through Celsius Network’s bankruptcy restructuring. The package included Bitcoin mining equipment and related infrastructure, approximately $195 million in cash, and 540 BTC, valued at roughly $35 million when the transaction was completed.
The company initially hired Hut 8 to operate the mining business under a four-year management agreement. That arrangement ended in less than a year, shifting the sites to Ionic’s direct control while Hut 8 retained a minority stake in the company.
Ionic’s route to the public market differs from a traditional initial public offering. In a direct listing, a company’s existing shares begin trading publicly without the same process of selling a new block of shares to raise capital at a set IPO price. The $53 reference price served as a benchmark rather than a guaranteed opening level.
Its opening at $50 and subsequent move toward $63 showed demand for the shares after trading began, although the first session alone offers limited evidence of where the stock will settle once more shareholders can transact. The implied $2.75 billion valuation also reflects expectations around the Nscale contract and the conversion of former mining facilities into AI infrastructure.
Nscale lease anchors the AI expansion
Ionic began developing AI and high-performance computing infrastructure in 2025. In October, it signed a 10-year lease with Nscale for its Ward County, West Texas site, initially representing nearly $2 billion in contracted revenue.
An amendment signed in February raised the potential contracted value to $2.6 billion, according to an Ionic SEC filing. The agreement covers 234 megawatts of base power capacity, with an additional 89 megawatts potentially available if grid capacity supports an expansion.
Megawatts are a central measure in both Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure because they determine how much computing equipment a facility can operate. Securing power at scale has become a practical constraint for data-center operators seeking to deploy AI servers, which consume substantial electricity and require specialized cooling, networking, and physical infrastructure.
The Nscale agreement gives Ionic a defined commercial use for a large portion of its Texas capacity. It also shifts part of the company’s business model from operating machines that earn Bitcoin to providing infrastructure for a tenant running AI workloads. The latter can offer contracted revenue visibility, though execution will depend on construction, power availability, equipment deployment and the terms of the lease.
Bitcoin production is expected to taper
Ionic has not left the mining business behind. The company operates four Bitcoin mining sites in Midland, Texas, and mined just under 25 BTC in May. That brought its listed Bitcoin holdings to 2,861 BTC.
According to Bitcoin Treasuries, a blockchain-data tracking platform, that total would rank Ionic 28th among publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holders, immediately behind DDC Enterprise Limited. The balance gives Ionic continued exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements alongside its operating mining revenue.
Management has said Bitcoin output should decline as infrastructure is repurposed for AI and high-performance computing workloads. The pace of that decline will offer a practical indication of how quickly the conversion is taking place, since equipment and power capacity assigned to AI hosting cannot simultaneously be used for mining.
The transition also changes how Ionic’s operating results may be interpreted. Mining output can fluctuate with Bitcoin’s market price, network difficulty, transaction-fee conditions and machine efficiency. Hosting revenue under a long-term lease depends more heavily on customer deployment schedules, facility readiness and the ability to deliver contracted power capacity.
A new valuation framework for a former miner
Ionic’s Nasdaq arrival gives public-market traders a company that originated in a crypto bankruptcy but is seeking to build an identity closer to an energy-intensive digital infrastructure operator. Its Bitcoin holdings and active mining fleet remain material, particularly while the AI buildout is underway.
The Nscale lease, rather than monthly mining production, is likely to carry increasing weight in assessments of the business if the company executes the planned conversion. The disclosed 234 megawatts of initial capacity and possible 89-megawatt expansion provide concrete benchmarks for that effort.
For now, Ionic’s public listing captures both sides of the transition: a Bitcoin miner with thousands of BTC on its balance sheet and a former mining estate being repositioned to host AI computing under a decade-long customer agreement.
Want deeper insight into Bitcoin mining and infrastructure shifts? Explore our guide on how mining Bitcoins really works today.
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