Argo Names New CEO Amid Hosting Search for Bitcoin Miners

Bitcoin mining firm Argo Blockchain has named Justin Nolan as its new CEO and director, following the departure of former CEO Thomas Chippas.

The company announced the leadership change on Monday as it continues efforts to secure hosting capacity for its fleet of 23,000 S19j Pro Bitcoin miners, which were removed from Galaxy Digital’s Texas facility at the end of 2024.

Nolan previously served as CEO of mining infrastructure firm Arkon Energy, which sold two facilities in Ohio to MARA in November for a total cash consideration of $67 million.

Before that, Nolan was Argo’s Chief Growth Officer, where he played a key role in developing the company’s Helios mining facility in Dickens County, Texas. According to the announcement, Nolan also co-founded DPN LLC, the firm that initiated the Helios project before Argo acquired it in 2021.

As part of his appointment, Nolan has been granted 22.25 million performance share units, which will vest over three years, subject to employment and performance conditions.

Nolan assumes leadership as Argo continues to seek colocation infrastructure to redeploy its idle mining fleet, which remains offline following its removal from the Helios site, now owned by Galaxy Digital.

In February, Argo expanded a hosting agreement with Merkle Standard to increase the number of hosted miners to 8,113 units at Merkle’s Memphis, Tennessee facility. Last week, the company announced it had raised that number to 9,315 units in Tennessee and secured additional capacity for 4,000 miners at Merkle’s Washington state location.

Argo also recently liquidated 2,000 S19j Pro units for $550,000, implying a nameplate price of $2.75/TH/s. Another 2,500 units are being relocated to the company’s Quebec facility, leaving 5,000 units still awaiting deployment.

The company expects to have the 15,815 miners—accounting for about 69% of its total fleet—deployed by the end of April.