Argo Blockchain PLC unveils investment in digital asset firm

() said it has taken a 25% stake and become the lead investor in Pluto Digital Assets PLC, a crypto venture capital and technology firm focused on projects in the decentralised technology and finance spaces.

The crypto mining firm said it has invested £1mln into Pluto at 3p per share as part of an investment round to raise £2.5mln. Argo said its contribution was satisfied entirely by the holding of 75,000 Polkadot tokens it had originally purchased in the first quarter of 2019 for US$75,000 (£55,163).

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Argo said it believes the investment in Pluto “complements its leading position in the Bitcoin and proof-of-work consensus mechanism”, adding that it has negotiated anti-dilution protections including the option to retain its 25% stake through future funding rounds through payments in either cash or Argo shares.

Notable projects invested in by Pluto include the YOP platform and protocol, a decentralised finance project that Argo said is backed by leading crypto venture capital groups and has increased in value by over 1,800% since listing on the Uniswap decentralised token exchange in January.

“Argo believes not just in Bitcoin, but in the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. We have always been extremely bullish on how cryptocurrencies will transform the global financial system”, Argo chief executive Peter Wall said in a statement.

“Our early-stage investment into Polkadot in 2019 was a perfect example of this belief and we are now excited to be using that same investment to buy a significant stake in Pluto, who are actively looking for projects with high yield potential”, he added.