- Peter Wall resigns as the CEO of Argo Blockchain, barely a week after the company’s CFO, Alex Appleton stepped down.
- The company appoints Seif El-Bakly as interim CEO and Matthew Shaw as the board chairman.
- This is the most recent change for Argo following a series of past struggles.
Following the sale of the company’s Helios mining facility to Galaxy Digital, Peter Wall, the CEO of cryptocurrency miner Argo Blockchain is the second executive to leave the organization in pursuit of new opportunities. Before stepping down less than a week ago, Alex Appleton, the company’s CFO, resigned.
Top Executives Step Down
Peter Wall’s departure from the company after three years was announced by Argo Blockchain on February 9, 2023, in their press release. Wall thanked the company for giving him such a fantastic path and reflected on the Galaxy deal’s success. He referred to his time spent there as a “great privilege” and thanked all of his coworkers for their commitment and support:
“It has been a great privilege to have led Argo Blockchain over the past three years. It has been quite a journey, and we have come a long way. I am pleased to have recently led the successful Galaxy deal, and I thank all my colleagues at Argo for their dedication, support, and enthusiasm in driving Argo forward. Onwards and upwards!”
According to its press release, the company’s Board of directors has named Seif-El Bakly as interim CEO and Matthew Shaw as chairman of the Board.
Matthew Shaw commented:
“Peter has created a strong foundation for Argo, a confident organization full of talented people, aligned behind a clear strategy and focused on delivering profitable growth and market share gains. On behalf of the Board and everyone at Argo, I would like to thank Peter for his many achievements and wish him every future success.”
Argo previously announced Alex Appleton’s resignation as its CFO and Executive Director on February 1, 2023
Argo Blockchain’s Problems
This is the most recent change for Argo since late December 2022, when it first acknowledged having insufficient finances and limited hope of avoiding Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
After declaring a negative cash flow, Argo Blockchain experienced the effects of the 2022 bear market, dropping more than 50% of the value of its shares. The business also saw reduced productivity due to a snowstorm in December 2022. As a result, Argo Blockchain only produced 147 BTC in December, down from 198 BTC in November 2022.
On December 27, 2022, Argo stopped trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. According to the company, the suspension was necessary to evaluate important financial performance data.
Due to these financial issues, its debt increased to around $80 million, ending in a financial emergency. As a result, Argo decided to sell its Helios Facility to Galaxy Digital for $65 million. As a result, Argo’s overall debt was reduced by $41 million. Argo regained compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price rule, partly thanks to the acquisition. This rule demands preserving the stock’s $1 minimum bid price for 30 consecutive trading days. The company avoided declaring bankruptcy by lowering the total debt and was protected.
Argo and several of its executives and board members were the targets of a lawsuit on January 26 for failing to disclose important information to investors.
The company allegedly concealed its vulnerability to network issues, electricity costs, and capital limits.
