The London-based company warned, however, there’s no guarantee it will be able to do so.Read MoreCoinDesk
Bitcoin mining firm Argo Blockchain (ARBK) is in advanced negotiations to sell some of its assets and carry out an equipment financing transaction to strengthen its balance sheet and improve its liquidity, the company said in a filing with the London Stock Exchange Monday.
The London-based company said it is hopeful that it will be able to make these moves outside of a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the U.S., but there is no reassurance it will be able to do so.
Argo also noted that draft materials saying the company had filed for bankruptcy had accidentally been published to its website last week, leading to the suspension of trading of shares in both the U.K. and U.S. on Friday.
The company is now requesting that its listing in the U.K. be restored, and expects that to happen “as soon as practicable.” The miners’ shares had already lost about 94% of their value in the past year, underperforming the rest of the industry.
As part of the process, the company has hired McDermott Will & Emery LLP as legal advisers, Berkeley Research Group, LLC as financial advisers and Stifel GMP and its affiliate, Miller Buckfire & Co., LLC, as investment bankers.
Argo has been trying to raise $25 million to $35 million since late August. In November, it became clear it needed the funds to survive. After a deal for $27 million fell through in October, the firm warned it might soon turn cash flow negative.
Argo has built a mega bitcoin mining facility in West Texas, dubbed Helios. The facility started operations in May with a plan to reach 800 megawatts (MW) of energy consumption and 20 exahash/second (EH/s) of computing power. This would have made Argo one of the world’s biggest miners.
However, problems quickly emerged, and the firm found costs from the facility outpacing revenue, such that margins narrowed in the following few months. That has been a common issue in the industry as the price of energy has soared and the price of bitcoin has slumped. Argo felt the effect of soaring energy prices particularly hard as it didn’t have a fixed-rate power agreement for the Helios facility.
Argo also has two smaller facilities in Canada’s Quebec province.
Read more about
DISCLOSURE
Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.
In El Salvador, about two hours away from the capital, up in the mountains, lies…
Bitcoin has experienced a challenging period recently, with its price consistently declining over the past…
U.S. inflation unexpectedly marched higher in January, sending crypto and traditional markets sharply lower. The…
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto project Trump has financial interests in, has launched a…
By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) The U.S. inflation report due later…
Crypto markets slid 3% in the past 24 hours as traders await U.S. consumer price…