Argo Blockchain (ARBK), a publicly listed bitcoin miner, reduced its guidance for year-end 2022 hashrate, or mining power capacity, to 3.2 exahashes per second (EH/s); Compared to the previous guidance of 5.5 EH/s, it is down by 42%.
According to ARBK CEO Peter Wall, the modification to the hashrates reflects the firm’s current expectations for the delivery and deployment of the custom machines it created with ePIC Blockchain Technologies that use Intel Blockscale ASIC chips.
He added that the intended deployment schedule has been delayed as the result of the firm’s tight collaboration with ePIC and Intel to tweak the machine design in order to increase its total mining efficiency.
By the end of the first quarter of 2023, the firm estimated the hashrate will increase to 4.1 EH/s.
Argo was one of the miners to receive Intel’s (INTC) second-generation “Intel Blockscale ASIC”, a bitcoin (BTC) mining chip that is said to provide miners with more efficient rigs than the majority of models currently on the market.
Due to the anticipated prompt delivery of the mining rigs, the firm boosted its year-end hashrate guidance from 3.7 EH/s to 5.5 EH/s.
One of the first customers to acquire the new Intel Blockscale ASIC mining chip was technology giant mining giant Block (formerly Square), along with Miner Hive Blockchain (HIVE) and Griid Infrastructure.
The first half of this year saw a drop in Argo’s mining revenue by 14%, bringing its revenue to $32.5 million. This is mainly due to lower bitcoin prices and a worldwide increase in the hashrate and related network congestion.
For the first half of 2022, EBITDA decreased by 28% in the same period last year to $20.9 million.
In Wednesday’s post-market trading, shares are down approximately 4% and are still down roughly 60% for the year.
