David Canellis

<div id="highlights-block_6274044c0931c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Argo Blockchain stock surged up to 10% after saying its new flagship mine in Texas is ready to generate crypto next week</li>
 <li>The London-based company has borrowed nearly $100 million from NYDIG in the past few months to acquire mining rigs for the site</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Argo Blockchain says its new crypto facility in Texas is fully energized and ready to start mining next week.



Argo celebrates the milestone with an inauguration ceremony at the facility on Thursday afternoon. The company’s London-listed stock surged up to 10% on the announcement and currently sits about 7% above its previous close.&nbsp;



The 320-acre Dickens County plot, Helios, will serve as Argo’s flagship bitcoin mining operation moving forward. Argo has two smaller facilities in Quebec.



Argo <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/123386/argo-filing-reveals-texas-mining-facility-could-cost-up-to-2-billion-to-build" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">projected</a> costs of up to $2 billion to get Helios online last November, <a href="https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/ARB/2021-full-year-results/15428672" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">financed</a> by debt offerings and offloading some of the bitcoin it mines every month.



In fact, word <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/05/04/argo-blockchain-borrows-70m-from-nydig-to-buy-mining-rigs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">broke</a> of a $70-million loan from crypto service provider NYDIG Wednesday, cash Argo will use to acquire more mining rigs — bringing the total loan above $97 million. Argo’s market capitalization is around $370 million.



&#8220;I&#8217;m extremely grateful to everyone who has been involved in the planning and execution of Helios,” CEO Peter Wall said in a statement. “We started construction on the facility in July 2021 and it is a tremendous achievement that the site will commence mining operations in less than 12 months.



The UK firm said the 20,000 Bitmain S1PJ Pro mining rigs bought last September are still being delivered and installed. Argo will continue receiving and installing the Bitmain machines in batches between May and October of this year but didn’t specify how many rigs were already housed at the site.



Argo also signed a different <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/137672/argo-blockchain-and-core-scientific-swap-bitcoin-mining-fleets" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deal</a> with fellow mining org Core Scientific in March that sees the two companies swap thousands of ASICs. Argo intends to exchange its less powerful Antminer S9s – which were housed at Core Scientific – for more Bitmain S1PJ Pro machines.



Some of Core Scientific’s rigs have already been installed, with the rest to be delivered and set up throughout July. Argo will also be one of the first to receive Intel’s new mining chips, which are <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/intel-unveils-latest-energy-efficient-asic-mining-chip/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pegged</a> as more efficient than some off-the-shelf ASICs currently available.



Right now, Argo <a href="https://argoblockchain.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wields</a> 1.605 exahashes per second (EH/s), equivalent to about 0.7% of Bitcoin’s hash rate. Marathon Digital Holdings, the largest crypto mining company by market value, <a href="https://ir.marathondh.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1281/marathon-digital-holdings-announces-bitcoin-production-and" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">maintained</a> 3.9 EH/s as of March – more than double Argo’s current capacity. 



Over the next few years, Argo says its new site will eventually harness 800 megawatts (MW) of electricity. This would surpass the 750 MW planned to flow through rival Riot Blockchain’s Texas <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/31/bitcoin-mining-giants-bitdeer-riot-blockchain-in-rockdale-texas.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">site</a> in Rockdale, some 350 miles away.



Argo’s Helios will make do with just 200 MW for now, one-fifth of its targeted energy expenditure. The company reckons this will still boost its overall maximum hash rate by 243% to 5.5 EH/s by the end of the year.&nbsp;



If that happens, Argo could handle a hash rate of more than 20 EH/s overall, equal to around 9% of the Bitcoin network’s current capacity.



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Argo Stock Jumps as it Celebrates Opening of Texas Bitcoin Mine

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_6201855325a4b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Firm’s upcoming ETF to follow launches of its Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF) and Balance Sheet Opportunities ETF (VBB)</li>
 <li>The fund is set to have Argo Blockchain and Bitfarms as its top two holdings</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Valkyrie Investments is set to launch an ETF focused on bitcoin mining operators with an emphasis on sustainability.



The Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) will begin trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq. It invests in publicly traded miners using renewable energy as their primary energy source and carries an expense ratio of 75 basis points. WGMI is short for “WAGMI,” crypto nomenclature for “we’re all gonna make it.”



Roughly 77% of the energy consumed by the companies in the ETF — on a portfolio-weighted basis — is from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal. Most are US-based businesses, although some are headquartered in Canada and the UK.



“We have found that mining companies that went the extra step here, versus carbon-neutral pledges or other initiatives, tend to maintain a lower overhead because renewable energy often costs less than other sources,” Valkyrie Funds CEO Leah Wald told Blockworks. “This tends to raise profitability.”



Registered investment advisors (RIAs), financial advisors and other market participants are looking to invest in pockets of the digital assets industry “in a climate-conscious manager,” Wald said.



“We believe that bitcoin miners are leading the green energy revolution and that providing more access to people seeking opportunities to align with environmentally friendly companies can only serve to help make the environment cleaner,” she said.



Argo Blockchain and Bitfarms are set to be the top holdings in WGMI with a 10% portfolio weighting. Other top holdings include Cleanspark, Hive Blockchain Technologies and Stronghold Digital Mining.



Argo and Bitfarms mined 172 bitcoin and 301 bitcoin, respectively, in January.



Based in London, Argo Blockchain last year committed to being “climate positive” by 2030.



“We’re pleased to see another crypto mining ETF approved, especially one that has a sustainability focus,” Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall told Blockworks in an email. “We think there is a strong market for investors in the sector as a whole, but especially for environmentally focused miners.”



Bitfarms has five facilities in Quebec and acquired a 24-megawatt (MW) hydropower farm in Washington in November. It also began operating a 10-MW farm in Paraguay last month. Each facility is powered with 99% hydropower.



Valkyrie’s new product follows <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/viridi-launches-first-us-clean-energy-crypto-mining-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the launch</a> of Viridi Funds’ Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining &amp; Semiconductor ETF (RIGZ) in July. The fund costs 90 bps and has $11 million of assets.



RIGZ has Bitfarms and Argo Blockchain as its third- and fourth-largest holdings, allocating about 8.8% and 6.6%, respectively to the miners, as of Feb. 7. Investments in Marathon Digital and Hut 8 Mining account for a combined 20% of the portfolio.



The WGMI launch comes after Valkyrie <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/valkyrie-bitcoin-futures-etf-launch-confirmed-for-friday/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched its Bitcoin Strategy ETF</a> (BTF) — primarily investing in bitcoin futures contracts — in October. The fund group also brought to market its Balance Sheet Opportunities ETF (VBB) in December. The offering invests in the stocks of companies with exposure to bitcoin.



BTF has about $40 million assets under management, while VBB has less than $1 million.



The Securities and Exchange Commission denied Valkyrie’s proposal to launch an ETF that would invest in bitcoin directly in December. The agency has rejected the applications from a handful of other issuers, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/when-will-the-sec-approve-a-spot-bitcoin-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">leaving uncertainty</a> around when it will OK such a product.



“We have a number of ideas we are currently exploring based on feedback from stakeholders, investors and other partners,” Wald said, declining to comment further.



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