Bitcoin Miner Argo Blockchain Secures £4.2M Lifeline as Mining Margins Shrink

Argo Blockchain, the publicly listed Bitcoin miner from Wall Street (NASDAQ: ARBK) and London (LSE: ARB), has secured £4.2 million ($5.3 million) through a share subscription. The BTC mining company issued approximately 76.9 million new ordinary shares at 5.5 pence per share to an institutional investor.

The fresh capital will support multiple strategic initiatives, including the potential relocation or divestment of mining equipment from its Helios facility in Texas, while maintaining Bitcoin mining operations in Quebec. The funds will also advance the company’s planned expansion into high-performance computing (HPC).

“This subscription strengthens our balance sheet as we move forward with our HPC opportunity at Baie-Comeau and Helios fleet movement,” said Thomas Chippas, CEO of Argo Blockchain.

Argo is one of several Wall Street mining companies seeking new revenue streams by shifting focus to HPC and AI. This strategic move aims to diversify operations and capitalize on the growing demand for computational power in the AI sector. Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at investment management firm VanEck, projects that this transition could generate $38 billion in value for mining companies by 2027.

The transaction will be executed through a cashbox mechanism, with the new shares ranking equally with existing ordinary shares. Following the subscription, Argo’s total issued share count will increase to 717.2 million shares.

Challenging Market for Bitcoin Miners

The funding comes as Argo faces challenging market conditions, having reported a pretax loss of $38.8 million in the year to date, with mining margins narrowing to 8% in the third quarter of 2024, down from 58% in the previous year.

“The third quarter was a difficult quarter for BTC miners, including Argo,” added Chippas. “It is positive that we have seen improvement in BTC mining economics in October, and that this has continued into November.”

A small consolation for Argo is that it is not alone in reporting losses. Industry leaders such as Bitfarms, Marathon Digital Holdings, TeraWulf, and HIVE Digital Technologies also faced challenges in maintaining profitability during Q3 2024. The sole exception was Hut 8, which managed to achieve modest net profit of $0.9 million.

Despite Bitcoin reaching record highs, nearing $100,000 last month and climbing 125% year-to-date, Argo’s shares on Wall Street and the London Stock Exchange have significantly declined. Their value has dropped by over 70% since the beginning of the year.