Crypto Mining Firm Argo Blockchain Sells Facility

Crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain has made transactions allowing it to continue operating. 

The firm said in a Wednesday (Dec. 28) press release that its subsidiary would sell its Helios bitcoin mining facility in Texas to Galaxy Digital Holdings for $65 million and refinance its asset-backed loans with a new $35 million loan from Galaxy. 

“This transaction with Galaxy is a transformational one for Argo and benefits the company in several ways,” Argo CEO Peter Wall said in the release. “It reduces our debt by $41 million (£34 million) and provides us with a stronger balance sheet and enhanced liquidity to help ensure continued operations through the ongoing bear market.” 

Argo had said in an Oct. 31 press release that it was exploring financing opportunities and that if it should be unsuccessful in completing further financing to provide it with working capital, it would become cash flow negative and would need to curtail or cease operations. 

With the newly announced transactions, Argo will reduce its total indebtedness by $41 million and simplify its operating structure, according to the Wednesday press release. 

“Argo will maintain ownership of its fleet of bitcoin mining machines, which represents approximately 2.5 EH/s of total hashrate capacity,” Wall said in the release. 

For Galaxy, the transaction will accelerate the expansion of its bitcoin mining operations and services, provide access to tax-efficient mining infrastructure and reduce reliance on third-party hosting providers, Galaxy said in a Wednesday press release. 

The Helios facility will join another planned bitcoin mining facility that will be owned and operated by Galaxy, as the firm broke ground on its first proprietary mining site earlier this year, according to the release. 

“Galaxy is aspiring to be one of the most trusted nodes of the decentralized future,” Galaxy President and Chief Investment Officer Chris Ferraro said in the release. “The acquisition of Helios represents a new stage over our two-year journey in bitcoin mining that increases our operating scale and breadth of solutions, creating sustainable value for the biggest decentralized digital asset network and shareholders alike.” 

As PYMNTS reported in March, crypto mining is an industry whose economics dominate bitcoin and many of the cryptocurrencies that came after it — most notably the payments-focused ones, such as litecoin and bitcoin cash.