Argo Blockchain, the first cryptocurrency mining firm to be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has seen its revenue rise ten-fold last year to $11 million.

According to a report published by ProactiveInvestors, Argo Blockchain managed to bring in as much as £8.5 million ($11 million) last year, up from £760,000 ($987,200) in 2018, when the cryptocurrency space dealt with a year-long bear market.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Argo reportedly managed to mine a total of 432 BTC, while in the third it managed to mine 426. During the second half of 2019 bitcoin dropped from its $13,000 year and, as a result, the firm’s revenues dropped. The decline in revenue was also related to increased mining difficulty, the firm added.

As CryptoGlobe reported, Bitcoin’s hashrate recently hit a new all-time high of 120 EH/s after tripling over the past year, as miners are focusing their resources on the cryptocurrency’s blockchain and competing with each other to mine as much as possible ahead of the halving, set to occur later this year.

The halving will see block rewards on the Bitcoin blockchain drop from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block, ensuring BTC’s inflation rate is stable until all 21 million bitcoins have been mined. Data shows there are now 18.15 bitcoins in circulations, which means most has already been minted.

Argo’s mining margin has dropped to 52% on the fourth quarter from 73% in the third over these factors, although the firm added it still has one of the “highest efficiency rates in the market.”

The firm has been expanding its mining capacity ahead of schedule, it says, as it has already added 6,375 mining machines to its operation. As reported, Argo Blockchain was looking to employ a total of 17,000 by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Argo’s CEO, Peter Wall, stated:

Our state-of-the-art mining platform is performing as expected and with the expansion of our mining network on pace, along with the recent rise with the price of Bitcoin, Argo is well-placed for a strong year ahead.

Featured image by Лечение Наркомании on Pixabay.