By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – UK headquartered cryptocurrency miner Argo Blockchain PLC (LON:ARB) today announced 1,295 S19 and S19 Pro miners were brought onstream this week. The UK listed company expects the machines to add approximately 127 petahash to the company’s existing mining fleet. The cryptocurrency miner’s operations are based in North America with the largest facility in Quebec, Canada.
The order for the machines was placed in November 2020 and delivery has occurred ahead of schedule, bringing the company’s total installed computing power to 772 petahash. The hash rate is defined as the speed at which a computer can take any set of information and turn it into letters and numbers of a certain length, known as a hash. A petahash is equivalent to one quadrillion hashes.
“We are very pleased these machines have been delivered ahead of schedule,” said Argo Blockchain Chief Executive Peter Wall. “Our ongoing investment in new mining hardware puts us at the forefront of mining efficiency and ensures we continue to deliver a strong performance and create long-term value for shareholders."
OUTLOOK
Going forward, Argo expects to increase capacity even further. By the end of H1 2021, Argo’s total installed mining power is expected to total 1,685 petahash, more than doubling from its current rate. The company has a further 10,000 machines on order that are required to achieve this target and are expected to be delivered in batches between February and June.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Argo Blockchain shares are a proxy for moves in the cryptocurrency markets, often rising when the Bitcoin price rises and falling when it decreases. Bitcoin trades higher on Friday, benefitting from tweets by Tesla CEO and world’s richest man Elon Musk who added the word ‘bitcoin’ to his Twitter bio.