COVID-19 isn’t stopping digital currency processors from making a living

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The coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on the world’s economy, and an uphill battle lies ahead as a rebound begins. Despite the impact COVID-19 has had across the globe, certain business sectors have been able to continue, and some have even improved. According to the latest report from Argo Blockchain, a company out of the U.K., its transaction processing operations for the first quarter of 2020 increased substantially compared to the last quarter of 2019.

Argo, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange, reports that it processed 918 BTC during the first three months of the year, over twice what it had processed in the final quarter of 2019. In March, when the coronavirus was hitting the U.S. especially hard, it processed 333.8 BTC, a slight decrease from the 337.5 from a month earlier. The quarterly total represents a new record for the company.

Argo explains of its performance, “Based on daily foreign exchange rates and cryptocurrency prices during the month, the Company generated mining revenue in March of £1.8 million ($2.2 million)… Argo generated this income at a mining margin of 42% and the Company continues to consider its operations to be among the most efficient in the market. Mining conditions were harder in March as algorithmic difficulty increased early in the month, and Bitcoin prices then saw a sharp decline in the second week of the month.” It added, “Revenues generated in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to £6 million (US$7.67 million) based on average currency rates for the period.”

The improved performance will help offset one of its most recent expenditures. The company announced recently that it was preparing to buy 1,000 Bitmain Antminer S17+ rigs, and those plans are still intact. Once the devices are purchased and installed, expected to occur before the end of this month, Argo will be able to increase its capacity by about 10% to 730 petahashes. That follows an increase of 75% it implemented at the beginning of the year.

While Argo is based out of the U.K., its transaction processing operations are located in North America. Even though the coronavirus has hit the region hard, the spread of the virus, and the shutdown of essentially the entire area, is not producing a negative impact on the company’s digital currency processing activity. Argo CEO Peter Wall explains, “Despite challenging conditions the company continues to deliver some of the best mining margins in the industry. This reflects Argo’s high-quality mining infrastructure and expertise.”

Argo isn’t the only blockchain company to continue to enjoy more success. Last week, Hut 8 announced that it had seen its revenue increase by 66% from 2018 to 2019, reporting 2019 total revenue of $58 million. This was made possible, in part, by expanded operations and the purchase of nine data centers previously owned by Bitfury.