Shares of the company, which went public through direct listing, opened at $50 apiece, down nearly 5.7% from a reference price of $53 set by the Nasdaq on Monday.
The tepid debut underscores the volatility in global markets, with investors scrutinizing the need for aggressive spending to build out AI capabilities.
“Ionic is expected to be the largest direct listing since 2021, having recently raised money at a roughly $2.4 billion valuation,” said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.
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 the approval from a US 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 (formerly Allbirds) and Rocket One (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 look like last-ditch efforts to salvage some value by jumping on the AI bandwagon,” Kennedy said.