Losses deepen for London-listed Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain
Losses have deepened for London-listed Bitcoin mining company Argo Blockchain following legal woes and a dip in the price of the leading cryptocurrency.
In a trading update for January 2022, Argo revealed that losses had soared from just £1m in November to stand at £13.2m last month. The deflated results come after a dip in the price of Bitcoin, which has shed 40 per cent of its value compared to its November peak above $69,000, and a legal dispute with Celsius which saw Argo dish out $6m in December.
Despite the setback, chief executive Peter Wall stressed he was confident in the company’s growth potential, with the completion of a new 200Mw Texas mining facility in sight.
“As our mining operations continue to develop and the completion date of Helios, our new mining facility, approaches, this month we have laid the foundations for executing our growth strategy for 2022 and achieving the objectives we have set for the Company in the year ahead,” Wall said.
Argo has been busy kitting out its new Texas facility with equipment to expand the firm’s mining capabilities, a move which market analysts at Jefferies and Barclays have previously predicted will have a positive impact on share price once completed.
However, Argo’s contract with equipment supplier Celsius came to an acrimonious end in December with the mining company agreeing to pay its supplier $6m out of court while Celsius agreed to pay Argo an unspecified amount in Bitcoin.
In January, Argo mined 172 Bitcoin or Bitcoin Equivalent, down from 214 BTC in December 2021. The company said the reduction was primarily due to an increase in network difficulty.
Argo revealed it is now in possession of 2,748 Bitcoin in total, worth approximately £86.8m at current market value. Shares have today climbed by 2.79 per cent.