Argo Blockchain PLC (LON:ARB) shares surged on Thursday as it increased its crypto mining capacity by 129% to support its generation of Bitcoin.
In a statement, the firm said that it had ordered 5,000 Antminer S17 mining units costing around US$13.09mln, half of which would be paid immediately while the rest would be paid five days before shipment and funded from a combination of cash and cryptocurrency assets.
READ: Argo Blockchain surges as second quarter mining beats expectations
The new hardware was expected to be delivered at the start of November and would be added to Argo’s existing base of 7,025 machines and increase its Bitcoin mining capacity to around 505 petahash (PH), equivalent to around 505,000 trillion computer calculations per second.
Argo also said that it would have a Bitcoin mining capacity of 220 PH by the end of the third quarter when it receives a previous order of 2,500 mining machines.
At the current Bitcoin price of US$11,352, Argo said the return on investment for its current S17 machines was around 4.5 months.
Mike Edwards, Argo’s executive chairman, said the “major order” formed part of the group’s strategy to rapidly scale up its mining infrastructure as the industry gained momentum from “growing institutional interest” in the asset class.
“We have received preferential prices for the new machines and together with other hardware coming on stream, we believe this will make Argo one of the biggest and most efficient mining platforms worldwide”, Edwards added.
Argo Blockchain shares were up 2.5% at 8.3p in early deals.