Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain looks to avoid bankruptcy by a hair’s breadth

Bitcoin mining company Argo Blockchain has made great strides with negotiations to sell some of its assets. This way, they want to improve liquidity in the company and avoid bankruptcy protection.

Argo Blockchain

Argo Blockchain is listed on the London Stock Exchange. At the stock exchange, they filed a document that they have (almost) successfully completed the restructuring of the company. This should prevent them from having to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the United States.

Argo accidentally put a draft document online last week stating that the company had filed for bankruptcy protection. It caused trading in ARBK shares in the US and UK to halt last week.

The company is asking for the UK listing to be restored. They expect this to happen “as soon as possible”. The mining company’s shares already fell about 94% last year.

Meanwhile, some legal advisers have been hired from the firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP, in addition to financial advisers from the Berkeley Research Group, LLC.

Money problems

Argo has been trying to raise $25 million to $35 million since late August. In November, it became clear that it needed more money to survive. After a $27 million deal fell through in October, the company warned that it could soon have negative cash flow.

Argo built a mining farm in West Texas at a cost of $2 billion. The facility opened its doors in May this year and they planned to convert 800 megawatts (MW) of electricity to bitcoin there through 20 exahash per second of computing power. This would have made Argo one of the world’s largest miners.

However, problems quickly arose. The company ran into higher costs while revenues in the mining market fell. In fact, margins became so small that it became very difficult to survive. After all, it had not included a fixed rate in its energy contract in West Texas.

Author

  • Gabriele Spapperi

    Gabriele Spapperi is a veteran cryptocurrency investor and blockchain technology specialist. He became fascinated with Bitcoin and distributed ledgers while studying computer science at MIT in 2011.

    Since 2013, Gabriele has actively traded major cryptocurrencies and identified early-stage projects to invest in. He contributes articles to leading fintech publications sharing his insights on blockchain technology, crypto markets, and trading strategies.

    With over a decade of experience in the crypto space, Gabriele provides reliable insights and analysis on the latest developments in digital assets and blockchain platforms. When he's not analyzing crypto markets, Gabriele enjoys travel, golf, and fine wine. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.

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