Bitcoin Popularity Rises, But Miners' Bottom Lines Take a Hit

In June, bitcoin's price fell by the largest amount in 11 years. Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain (ARB) hired an in-house derivatives trader to try to navigate this market rout.

The company also sold 637 BTC at an average of $24,500 to cover operating expenses and a loan from Galaxy Digital, as it said in a statement on Thursday.

As the crypto market has declined, miners have been selling their bitcoin revenues to cover operating costs. The firm said that it had been using derivatives to limit downside risk since fourth-quarter 2021, and hired a full-time trader to improve its "capabilities in risk and treasury management."

As of the end of June, Argo had $22 million outstanding with Galaxy Digital, according to the statement. The firm signed the $30 million loan collateralized by bitcoin in December 2021, as stated in its annual earnings report.

In June, Argo's profit margin fell to 50% from 55% in May and 75% in April, due to higher electricity costs at the Helios facility in Texas and the bitcoin (BTC) price drop. The miner revised its margin figure for May after receiving new invoices.

In January, Argo's revenue increased 10% to £3.38 million ($4.35 million) as it produced 46% more bitcoin than in the previous month due to an increase in hashrate and uptime.

Intel has received orders from four companies for new crypto mining chips: Argo, Hive Blockchain, Griid Infrastructure and Jack Dorsey's Block (formerly Square).

Intel has shipped the Blocksale chips, Raja Koduri, executive vice president and general manager of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics at Intel, said on June 29th.

As of 09:10 UTC, the price of Argo shares in London was unchanged.