- Argo Blockchain is expected to file for bankruptcy today
- Trading of shares was suspended on Friday after the company seemingly ran out of money
- The company lost $27 million in October and warned that it needed more to continue
Argo Blockchain is expected to announce bankruptcy today after trading of its shares was suspended on Friday. The Bitcoin mining company, which has spent tens of millions of dollars on creating a new mining farm in Dickens County, Texas, has been warning since the end of October that unless it secures new funding it will go under after a key backer pulled out. Trading of Argo shares was suspended on Friday, while a leaked bankruptcy notice was also seen by a Coindesk journalist, suggesting that the matter was a fait accompli.
Lost Funding Could Prove Disastrous
Argo Blockchain is one of the mining companies struggling with mounting operational costs and a stagnating Bitcoin price, with many, including giants like Core Scientific, running on existing capital. Argo had anticipated a $27 million funding boost in October, but on the 31st, the date the Bitcoin whitepaper was first referenced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, it announced that the deal had fallen through and it had been forced to sell mining equipment in order to survive.
The company added that without new funding it would not be able to continue in the long term, a situation that as of Friday didn’t appear to be any better – an operational update revealed that the company was still looking for ways to continue operation, adding that “a further announcement will be made in due course”.
Trading of shares, which have been in freefall since November last year, was halted on Friday, while Coindesk journalist Will Foxley received an accidentally published and swiftly removed update regarding potential bankruptcy:
Argo is preparing for a bankruptcy on Monday, per a screenshot of a document sent my way (likely accidentally posted). https://t.co/aXmFuMNSXF pic.twitter.com/kQtLwZOKct
— Will Foxley 🧭 (@wsfoxley) December 9, 2022
All this suggests that Monday will bring the sad news that the mining firm, whose CEO Peter Wall we interviewed in 2020, is facing closure.
