Why 37 million Celsius bankruptcy shares are blocked from an immediate cash-out despite Nasdaq debut
On July 28, Ionic Digital, which acquired Celsius Mining assets after Celsius Network’s bankruptcy, began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker IOND. The direct listing created a public market for existing Class A shares, including shares issued in connection with the Celsius bankruptcy plan, but it did not automatically let every holder of creditor-linked stock sell.
Because this was a direct listing, Ionic sold no shares and would receive no proceeds if existing registered stockholders sold theirs. The transaction created a trading venue and price discovery for existing equity rather than raising new capital for Ionic.
Where the creditor-linked shares came from
Those shares originated on Jan. 31, 2024, when Ionic acquired Celsius Mining assets. According to the company’s final prospectus, Ionic paid no cash consideration for those assets and instead issued 37 million Class A shares to former approved creditors of Celsius Network and certain subsidiaries and affiliates.
Ionic reported approximately 82,000 stockholders of record before the listing, excluding beneficial owners whose shares were held in nominee names. The prospectus did not say how many of those record holders were Celsius creditor recipients, so the total cannot be treated as a creditor count.
The same filing separately registered 10,800,164 resale shares tied to Ionic’s June 2026 private placement. Those shares were not the 37 million bankruptcy-plan shares. The private-placement investors generally could not transfer their securities below $70 per share until six months after the listing.
The prospectus said the remaining 37,214,869 outstanding Class A shares could be sold under Securities Act exemptions. Holder-specific limits could still apply, including restrictions for affiliates and plan recipients deemed underwriters.
Even for holders without those restrictions, exchange trading did not guarantee immediate access. For recipients whose shares remained on the books of Odyssey Transfer and Trust Company, Ionic’s shareholder guidance said a broker that participates in the Depository Trust Company and supports the Direct Registration System had to move the shares into a brokerage account. The company said that process typically took one to two business days.
Nasdaq’s $53 figure was only a direct-listing reference price, not an offering price or a price at which shares changed hands. The opening market price was set through buy and sell orders in Nasdaq’s auction.
IOND closed its first session at $62.90 on approximately 1.58 million shares of volume, according to Investing.com.
The listing therefore created a real exit route for creditor-linked equity, but not a universal same-day cash-out. Whether a holder could use that route depended on where the shares were held, whether a broker could receive them, and whether securities-law restrictions applied.
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