Argo Blockchain stock surges following boost in Bitcoin mining capacity

Stock in the UK-based cloud mining pool Argo Blockchain PLC today rose 6 percent after it announced that it received 3,616 new Bitcoin mining machines and appointed co-founder Peter Wall as CEO. 

At 8 am this morning (GMT), Argo’s stock on the London Stock Exchange was worth £5.75 ($7.56). It peaked at 1:30 pm, when it was worth £6.10 ($8.02).

Argo announced that it has received 3,616 Bitmain Antminer T17 mining machines, bringing its total number of miners to 13,384.

The new miners are currently being installed and should go live on January 10. Argo said that these new miners produce a combined total of 159 petahash, increasing the company’s mining power by 75 percent.

Argo said it’s on track to run 17,000 machines, the equivalent of 640 petahash, by the end of the first quarter of this year. The firm expects to start receiving deliveries for the remaining 6,384 machines soon. 

These new mining machines will help the service deal with the “halvening,” an event hardcoded into the consensus protocol of Bitcoin, that halves the supply of all new bitcoins. That translates to bitcoin minors having to work twice as hard to get their rewards, which means that old-fashioned mining hardware will become far less profitable. 

Other mining firms have prepared for the halvening in different ways. Bitmain, for instance, is currently considering cutting its workforce to help manage lost revenue.