Argo Blockchain eyes NASDAQ listing, thanks Bitcoin hashrate drop
The London Stock Exchange-listed Bitcoin mining firm Argo Blockchain is considering a listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The potential move was announced in an operational update, published earlier this month — although it did stop short of offering up any details around precise timings or terms of the secondary listing.
- Argo Blockchain listed on the LSE in August 2018.
- Its stock began trading on US OTC markets in January 2020.
- The company said a listing on the second-largest stock exchange would be led by market conditions.
Hashrate drop gives miners a boost
Via the update, exec Peter Wall said that Argo had benefited from a sharp decline in the global hashrate, which made Bitcoin mining easier.
“We’ve seen the global hashrate drop from over 150m TH/s to just 90m TH/s in the space of a month and mining difficulty adjusted to reflect this reduction.”
Indeed, Bitcoin mining is suddenly less competitive as a result of the curtailing of crypto mining by the Beijing government. Chinese mining pools which once enjoyed cheap hydroelectric power are throwing in the towel following government-ordered closures of mining hotspots.
[Read more: Texas lures Bitcoin miners from China despite failing energy grid]
According to Argo Blockchain’s website, its three facilities based in North America also make use of cost-effective hydropower to mine Bitcoin and Zcash.
Argo said it mined 333 BTC ($10.4 million) across May and June, nearly 40% of the 883 BTC ($27.7 million) mined in the first six months of the year. The company said it now owns 1,268 BTC ($39.7 million) or BTC equivalent.
Argo outperforms Bitcoin
UK headquartered Argo is one of several cryptocurrency mining firms that have seen share prices outperform that of Bitcoin so far this year.
Argo’s share price alone is up over 150% where Bitcoin has trailed behind with just a 5% price increase.
And like displaced Chinese Bitcoin miners, Argo Blockchain is headed to Texas. As The Block reported in June, Argo took out a $20 million loan to build a 200-megawatt mining facility in the Lone Star State.