Crypto miner Argo Blockchain installing new Bitmain machines to increase its capacity by 75%

Cryptocurrency miner Argo Blockchain is installing new 3,616 Bitmain machines to increase its mining capacity by 75%.

Announcing the news on Thursday, the London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed firm said the new Bitmain Antminer T17 machines are expected to be operational by Jan. 10. These machines represent 159 petahash (PH), an increase of 75% from Argo’s existing installed base of mining machines, it added. 

Looking ahead, the firm plans to install 6,384 more machines to increase its total mining capacity by 204% by the end of the first quarter of 2020.

Argo has today also promoted its vice president of operations, Peter Wall, to CEO. Peter himself is a crypto miner, per the announcement.

"[Wall's] knowledge of Argo and his broad and deep experience in cryptomining will serve the Company well as it moves into its next phase of growth,” said Mike Edwards, executive chairman and co-founder of Argo.

The firm recently said that it aims to become “the world's largest publicly-listed crypto miner by 2020.” To that end, it also increased its electricity from 14 megawatts to 64 megawatts.

Argo raised about $32.5 million via an initial public offering (IPO) held on the LSE last August. The firm suffered a pre-tax loss of about $5 million in 2018.