Publicly traded Duluth firm acquired by bitcoin mining company

DULUTH – A Maryland-based bitcoin mining company is merging with Duluth-based imaging technology firm Ikonics Corp. in an unlikely combination. The move puts the cryptocurrency company on the Nasdaq and will likely see Ikonics spun off into a private company.

Ikonics shareholders will receive $5 per share, a contingent value right (CVR) and a share in the new entity in the merger announced Friday morning. The combined company will be known as TeraWulf Inc. and will trade as WULF.

Once the merger is finalized, likely by the end of the year, "the legacy business of Ikonics will be operated consistent with past practices but will be positioned for sale," according to a joint news release.

Ikonics was founded in Duluth as Chroma-Glo Inc. in 1952 and went public in 2000. The company provides screen printing and "decorative and industrial" etching and imaging and has about 83 full-time employees, nearly all of them in Duluth.

Ikonics CEO Glenn Sandgren said in a statement the merger "provides ideal outcomes for our shareholders, customers and employees."

"The agreement will be instrumental in securing the long-term viability of Ikonics' legacy business, allowing it to continue to meet the needs of our customers with a secure supply of our high quality products in addition to continued employment opportunities for our workforce," he said.

TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager said in a statement the combined company is "ready to rapidly scale."

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are created by "mining," which involves running complex computations that take massive amounts of electricity. The process has become increasingly industrialized in recent years as the value of cryptocurrencies continues rising and mining companies seek economies of scale in their operations.

TeraWulf expects its upstate New York cryptocurrency mining facility to be operational by the end of the year and a second site in Pennsylvania to come online by the middle of 2022. The company says it will "provide domestically produced bitcoin powered by more than 90% zero-carbon energy with a goal of utilizing 100% zero-carbon energy."

Ikonics stock closed at $11.30 per share on Thursday and was up 75% on Friday morning following the merger announcement. It has traded as high as $21.85 and as low as $3.12 in the past year.