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Cryptocurrency mining company, Argo Blockchain, was established in December 2017 and went live in June 2018. It became the first business of its kind to publicly list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on 3 August 2018, raising £25 million in equity capital. Argo provides ‘Mining as a Service’ (MaaS), which allows customers to mine for cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and other altcoins from their own computer or mobile device. Users pay a monthly fee in exchange for access to Argo’s mining rigs, which ‘seamlessly perform complex crypto-mining operations’ according to the company.
‘Cryptocurrency mining is incredibly complex,’ Mike Edwards, Argo Blockchain’s co-founder and president, told IGTV’s Victoria Scholar because it is ‘complex to set up’ and requires ‘very expensive rigs’. Edwards said that as an urban professional in London, for example, ‘it would be almost impossible’ to mine for cryptocurrencies. Argo aims to solve this problem by providing industrial scale mining for the average consumer.
In October, Argo Blockchain announced plans to launch bitcoin to its cryptocurrency mining platform from November ‘in response to consumer demand’. In September Argo added Komodo and Horizen coins alongside Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and Zcash. Argo’s Edwards said he is confident in the future of cryptocurrencies despite the recent downturn.
Shares in Argo Blockchain have struggled since the initial public offering (IPO) this summer, shedding more than 40% from the highs at 13p in August. Financial analyst Richard Gill, from Align Research, wrote in a recent note, ‘we put this largely down to falls in the prices of cryptocurrencies over the past few months’. Align Research retains its stance of Conviction Buy on the stock. When asked whether the share price was being closely monitored, Argo’s Edwards told IGTV, ‘we know that if we execute very well over a period of time we’ll be rewarded, and all of our stakeholders will be rewarded'.
In Argo’s half-year report in September, the group announced a loss before tax of £1.15 million, which the company said, ‘is mainly attributable to initial start-up costs and investment in computer hardware and other corporate infrastructure’. Among the highlights in its interim results, Argo said it ‘signed a multi-year agreement on 9 August in Quebec, Canada for 9.5 megawatts of clean energy at one of the most inexpensive electricity rates in the world’ and ‘leased an additional two data centres in Quebec, Canada to boost mining capacity to service over 150,000 subscribers'.
