By
Temitope Olatunji
April 26th, 2024
Argo Blockchain announced the increasing Bitcoin mining difficulty made it difficult to rake in more coins during the last month.
Argo Blockchain Plc (LSE: ARB; NASDAQ: ARBK) has announced that it is at risk of having insufficient funds to support internal operations. As such, Argo Blockchain is weighing on voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the United States via professional guidance. As the cryptocurrency bear market pushes the mining company to a tight corner, the company announced that operations next month could be hampered by insufficient liquidity.
Will Argo Blockchain File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy?
Argo Blockchain is one of the leading Bitcoin mining facilities, and its collapse could spell more doom for the cryptocurrency market. Moreover, the company controls 2.5 EH/s out of 247.87 Exahashes/s.
A major crypto mining company suffering from a liquidity crisis could mean more related companies are on the brink of significant losses. Nonetheless, Argo Blockchain has indicated that it is in advanced talks to liquidate some of its assets.
“The Company is in advanced negotiations with a third party to sell certain assets and engage in an equipment financing transaction that the Company believes will strengthen its balance sheet and improve its liquidity,” Argo noted.
Notably, the company held 126 Bitcoins as of November 30, 2022, after mining 198 BTC during the month. Argo Blockchain announced the increasing Bitcoin mining difficulty made it difficult to rake in more coins during the last month. As such, fears of possible negative cash flow could lead to operations closure.
“Should Argo be unsuccessful in completing any further financing, Argo would become cash flow negative in the near term and would need to curtail or cease operations,” the company added.
Argo Blockchain and the Market Outlook
According to on-chain data, crypto mining facilities have been reported liquidating both freshly minted and old coins due to low underlying value. The cryptocurrency market has liquidated over $2.2 trillion in the past twelve months. Whereby the Terra Luna and FTX implosion significantly magnified the liquidations this year.
Per aggregate data from Coingecko, Bitcoin price has dropped approximately 66 percent in the past year to trade at about $17,188 on Tuesday. Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, is trading around $1,273, down approximately 73 percent in the past year. Not even the merge event sparked a bull market for the Ethereum-based altcoins.
The 2022 cryptocurrency winter has taken down several otherwise profitable companies in the past few years. Notably, most of these companies have reported a significant decline in trading volume, a primary source of income. As such, Argo Blockchain could sell its digital assets at lower prices than it invested in mining operations.
While the company’s stock market continues to trade in some markets, ARBK shares are down over 94 percent in the past year. Notably, Argo Blockchain has a market capitalization of approximately $39.36 million.