Bitcoin miner and AI firm Ionic Digital valued at $2.25 billion in Nasdaq debut

A direct listing allows a company to list its shares on an exchange without raising new capital or issuing new stock, letting existing shareholders sell their holdings.

Music-streaming platform Spotify and data analytics firm Palantir are among the companies that went public through direct listing.

Ionic Digital was formed in 2024 to acquire bitcoin mining assets of Celsius Mining, which received approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court for a restructuring in November 2023.

In 2025, Ionic pivoted to AI and high-performance computing infrastructure, much like another bitcoin miner Hut 8, seeking to derive greater value from its power assets.

Soon after that, it signed a 10-year lease with AI cloud provider Nscale worth about $2 billion in contracted revenue.

Several other companies have also pursued similar AI pivots, including Smartbird BIRD.O (formerly Allbirds) and Rocket One RKTO.O (formerly Hoth Therapeutics), seeking to capitalize on investor enthusiasm for the sector.

"Ionic's business may not have a large moat, but I wouldn't put it in the same category as Allbirds or Hoth, which look more like last-ditch efforts to salvage some value by jumping on the AI bandwagon," Kennedy said.

July 28 (Reuters) - Ionic Digital IOND.O, a bitcoin miner and AI infrastructure provider, secured a valuation of about $2.25 billion after its shares fell in the Nasdaq debut on Tuesday.

Shares of the company, which went public through a direct listing, opened at , down nearly from a reference price of set by the Nasdaq on Monday.