Argo Blockchain requests a 24-hour trading suspension of US stocks
Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain requested a 24-hour trading halt for its US-listed shares as the company prepares to make a major announcement related to its financial performance and business strategy. Trading in Argos shares on the Nasdaq exchange is expected to resume on 28 December.
Trading in Argo Blockchain’s US-listed shares is set to resume on December 28
Argo Blockchain submitted a request to the Nasdaq exchange, asking for a 24-hour suspension of US trading for its American Depositary Shares (ADS) and unsecured notes listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the bitcoin miner said in a press release on Tuesday. The request comes as Argo prepares to make an announcement before trading resumes on Wednesday, December 28.
“This announcement contains inside information and includes forward-looking statements that reflect the current views, interpretations, beliefs or expectations of the Company or, as applicable, the Board of Directors with respect to the Company’s financial results, business strategy and management’s plans and objectives for future operations.”
– Argo Blockchain said in a press release.e
Argo is also listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which is closed on Tuesday. Trading in Argo’s shares on the LSE was halted earlier this month after the bitcoin miner accidentally released draft material showing the firm voluntarily sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.
The troubled crypto miner downplayed the leak, saying it was instead in “advanced” talks with a third party to sell some assets and raise equipment financing. Argo added that it hopes it will be able to “complete the transaction outside of a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the United States, although there is no guarantee that the company can avoid such a filing,” it said in a Dec. 12 release.
Join our Telegram group and never miss a story about digital values.
Argo continues to underperform the crypto mining market
Argo has been trying to secure $25-35 million in funding in recent months to stay afloat amid financial difficulties. But the company said last month that the deal to sell $27 million in equity collapsed and warned it could be cash-flow negative, prompting analysts to downgrade the bitcoin miner’s shares.
On a more positive note, the crypto mining firm repaid its $6.7 million debt to Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, according to Argo’s operational update published in November. While the mining margin increased to 7%, the operational update showed that Argo is mining less bitcoin in October on a sequential basis due to several Bitcoin network additions in 2022.
The company’s LSE-listed shares are down more than 96% in 2022, underperforming the rest of the cryptomining market. Several crypto miners have capitulated this year amid crushed crypto prices, high interest rates from the Fed and hefty debt piles.
Economy is changing.
Find out how, with Five Minute Finance.
A weekly newsletter covering the major trends in FinTech and decentralized finance.
Do you expect Argo Blockchain to survive the current downturn? Let us know in the comments below.
About the author
Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
