It appears to be another sign that the momentum demonstrated by the ICO fundraising model over the last eighteen months has finally peaked.
After the recent – and controversial – decision of DigiPulse, a crypto-inheritance platform, to de-tokenise its original token-based business model in favour of traditional, fiat-based payment solutions and shareholder equity allocations, cryptocurrency mining outfit Argo has now announced that it too has also opted for a traditional IPO fundraiser in its bid to raise £25m for its next stage of expansion.
Mining as a Service
Argo, which describes itself as a Mining as a Service (MaaS) is seeking to offer simplified mining solutions for the lay person. There is “significant pent-up demand for a user-friendly and cost-effective MaaS that enables users to procure mining services without the up-front capital commitment to purchase hardware or the necessary technical skills to operate a home mining farm,” its announcement states.
The outfit is currently thought to be working on the release of mining software that can be embedded into mobile phones and computers and which will perform distributed mining of Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and Zcash in its first iteration phase.
The company has not commented on its decision to avoid fundraising via an ICO. For its IPO, just over 156 million ordinary shares were issued at 16 pence per share, giving the company an initial public valuation of £47 million. The IPO itself has been described as “hugely oversubscribed”.
