LOSSES deepened for London-listed Bitcoin mining company Argo Blockchain following legal woes and a dip in the price of the leading cryptocurrency.

In a trading update for January 2022, Argo revealed that losses had soared from just £1m in November to stand at £13.2m last month. The deflated results come after a dip in the price of Bitcoin, which has shed 40 per cent of its value compared to its November peak above $69,000, and a dispute with Celsius which saw Argo dish out $6m at the end of last year.

Despite the setback, chief executive Peter Wall said he was confident in the company's growth potential, with the completion of a 200MW US mining facility in sight.

"As our mining operations continue to develop and the completion date of Helios, our new mining facility, approaches, this month we have laid the foundations for executing our growth strategy for 2022," Wall said.

Argo has been busy kitting out its new Texas facility with equipment to expand the firm's mining capabilities, a move which market analysts at Jefferies and Barclays previously predicted would have a positive impact on share price.

However, Argo's contract with equipment supplier Celsius came to an acrimonious end in December as the mining firm agreed to a $6m settlement.

In January, Argo mined 172 Bitcoin or Bitcoin Equivalent, down from 214 BTC in December 2021.

Argo further revealed it owns 2,748 Bitcoin (£86.8m) as shares yesterday climbed by five per cent.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper