Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain (ARBK) will avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, after it agreed to sell its Helios mining facility in Dickens Country, Texas, to Galaxy Digital (GLXY) for $65 million.
The miner will also get a new $35 million loan from Mike Novogratz’s crypto-focused financial services firm, which will be secured by Argo’s mining equipment, according to a statement sent to CoinDesk.
“Over the last few months, we have been looking for a way to continue mining through the bear market, reduce our debt load, and maintain access to the unique power grid in Texas,” Argo’s CEO Peter Wall told CoinDesk. “This deal with Galaxy achieves all of these goals, and it lets us live to fight another day,” he added.
The transaction will help Argo bolster its balance sheet and avoid bankruptcy after it found itself in a precarious situation when a deal for $27 million in funding fell through in October. Earlier this month, the miner said that it was in advanced negotiations to sell some of its assets and carry out an equipment financing transaction to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The deal was structured to boost Argo’s balance sheet and capital structure, Chris Ferraro, president and chief investment officer at Galaxy, told CoinDesk. When the miner kicked off its process, “we were in a position to solve the problem completely for Argo, while accelerating the expansion of our own mining capabilities,” he added.
The crypto miner’s shares (ARB) more than doubled in early London Stock Exchange trading. Yesterday, the company requested a 24-hour suspension of trading in its Nasdaq stock (ARBK), while the London market was closed for a U.K. bank holiday.
Argo is among several miners that are struggling to stay afloat as rising energy prices increase costs, while stubbornly low bitcoin prices slash revenues. This month, Core Scientific (CORZ), one of the largest miners by computing power, filed for bankruptcy, while Compute North, another major firm in the space, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late September. Bitcoin miner Greenidge also said…
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