Argo Blockchain mined 28% fewer bitcoins in December

• Argo Blockchain mined 147 bitcoins in December 2022, down from 198 in November.
• Mining revenue was $2.49 million, compared to $3.46 million during the previous month.
• Argo sold its Helios facility to Galaxy Digital for $65 million as it looked to avoid nose-diving into bankruptcy.

Argo Blockchain, a leading Bitcoin miner that endured a terrible run in 2022 and came close to bankruptcy, has announced it mined 147 BTC only in December.

The publicly-traded company’s total mined bitcoins for the month were lower than the 198 BTC mined in November — nearly 28% lower than its mining output in November.

Mining revenue came in at $2.49 million (£2.07 million), down from $3.46 million (£2.94 million) in the previous month.  The firm’s mining margin in December 2022 was 48%, compared to 29% in November.

As of 31 December, the miner held 141 bitcoins.

Argo CEO on reduced mining results

According to details provided in the miner’s operational update published on 11 January, the decline in mining revenue (decreased mined coins) was mainly a result of the reduced mining operations following the winter storm that hit the United States in December.

Argo, like many other Texas Bitcoin miners, contributed to the stability of Texas’ power grid by cutting power usage during the storm.

“While our mining results for December were lower than anticipated, the primary driver was the winter storm which led us to curtail operations at Helios. We made this decision in order to not only reduce power usage on the grid, but also to prioritise the needs of the local community and safety of our Helios employees, Argo CEO Peter Wall said in a statement.

Notably, Argo sold its Helios facility for $65 million to Galaxy Digital and also agreed a $35 million loan as it sought to firm its balance sheet. But despite mining fewer BTC in December, and the sale of the Helios facility, Argo’s total hashrate remains around 2.5 exahashes per second (EH/s).