I’ve written about Argo Blockchain (LSE: ARB) shares many times. But the stock has been falling recently. It’s down over 25% in the past month. But the shares are still up more than 140% since the beginning of 2021 and have increased by 2,700% during the past year.
Just yesterday the Argo Blockchain share price fell by over 8%. So what’s going on? Well, there are a few things, which I’ll explain shortly. But as a long-term investor, I’d buy now on the dip.
Why has the Argo Blockchain share price fallen?
Argo Blockchain is a cryptocurrency miner. So it’s no surprise that any gloomy news on cryptocurrencies is going to impact the stock. Recently there’s been a lot of negative press surrounding these digital assets. And it hasn’t helped the shares.
The main cause is that China is cracking down on cryptocurrencies including the most popular one, Bitcoin. It has already banned financial institutions and payment providers from accepting cryptocurrency transactions. But my question is, what has the Chinese government got up its sleeve next?
To me, it appears that China is doing everything in its power to prevent any sort of cryptocurrency transactions happening at all. Let’s not forget that this is a large economy. So investors are going to take note of what the Chinese government is doing.
One of my concerns is that this could spill into other countries. And it appears that other economies may be thinking along similar lines. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has blocked Binance, the world’s top cryptocurrency exchange, from carrying out regulated activities.
While people in the UK can still use the the platform, it has been ordered by the regulator to notify its customers that it’s not authorised to operate in the country. It doesn’t bode well for cryptocurrencies in general, as well as any related service provider. Hence, the Argo Blockchain share price has been falling.
Should I buy?
I’m a long-term investor so I’m always going to be looking at the bigger picture. I think cryptocurrency has a bright future, but it’s not going to be an easy ride. It’s a young and unproven asset class that has still to stand the test of time. As with anything new, this will bring uncertainty and new regulation.
I don’t view this crackdown on cryptocurrency as a bad thing. The various governments and regulators are there to protect retail investors like myself. But this will most likely mean additional regulatory costs for the likes Argo Blockchain.
I’d buy the stock now though, as I think the company has loads of potential. Its June operational update was positive, although the numbers have fallen from the levels seen in May. Mining revenue last month amounted to £4.36m (in May it was £5.51m). And it generated this income at an average monthly mining margin of approximately 78%, compared to 82% in May.
The cryptocurrency miner also announced that it’s “exploring a potential secondary listing on NASDAQ”. It’s worth highlighting here that no firm decision has been made by the company yet. And so it’s a case of watch this space.
But if this did go ahead, it would offer Argo Blockchain more exposure. This could mean access to more capital to grow the business and it could improve the stock’s liquidity. With all that in mind, I’d buy on this dip.