Shares of crypto mining company Argo Blockchain PLC (LON: ARB) gapped 12.8% higher after announcing that it mined 129 Bitcoin (or its equivalents) worth £4.34 million in February compared to the 93 bitcoin worth £2.48 million mined in January.
Investors cheered that Argo managed to increase its mining margin to 81% in February, a 10% improvement to the 71% reported in January. The company held 599 bitcoin at the end of February and its equivalents at the end of February.
Argo also revealed that its CEO, Peter Wall, had agreed to be paid in bitcoin starting March 1, showing confidence in the company’s product and bitcoin’s prospects. The company’s employees can also choose to be paid part or all of their salaries in Bitcoin.
The company has made significant progress recently, having installed 4,500 Bitmain Antminer S19 crypto mining machines from the Celsius Network last week. The firm’s shares were also recently upgraded to trade on the OTCQX Best Market in the US.
Argo also recently secured priority access to ePIC Blockchain Technologies’ application-specific integrated circuits, or ASIC, mining machines by agreeing to pay $8 million for the mining rigs to get priority access up to 2022.
The company reported that its total mining capacity stands at 1,075 petahash and is still keen to acquire more miners to increase this figure.
Peter Wall, Argo’s CEO, said: “I'm delighted that Argo has followed up with another record month in both mining revenue and profits. A mining margin of 81% is absolutely amazing, and we continue to add to our BTC HODL [holding of Bitcoin + equivalent],”
Adding:
“I'm also pleased to be the first publicly-traded company that we know of to have their CEO paid in Bitcoin,”
Argo Blockchain share price.
Argo Blockchain shares gapped 12.78% higher to trade at 300p, rising from Tuesday’s closing price of 266p.
