Cryptocurrency miner Viderium has filed its first accounts for the year ending December 2018.
The company aimed to raise £5 million from bonds paying 9.8% for a 3 year term, reviewed here in June 2018 (its accounts say their loans carry interest between 9.8% and 12%). Its accounts show that as at December 2018, it missed its target by about £1 million, with total creditors of £3.9 million.
Viderium’s information memorandum stated that in its first year, it would target revenue of £2.7 million and a net loss of £224k, before hitting profitability in year 2.
Viderium has not published its profit and loss account, and its accounts were unaudited, so the amount that can be gleaned from its published accounts is limited. And an allowance has to be made for it raising 20% less than it hoped.
Nonetheless, it is clear from the net liabilities figure of £2.15 million that year 1 losses were considerably greater than hoped. Exactly how the losses broke down is not stated in the published accounts.
With the first bonds not repayable until 2021, there is naturally time for Viderium to turn things around.
Three of Viderium’s leading staff members, Alexander Johnson, Ross Archer and Russell Spratley, divide their time between Viderium and their new venture, Whisky Cask Company, reviewed here a few weeks ago.
Crypto mining, besides being very competitive, just consumes cost in huge qualtities; largely electricity bills to power the vast arrays of specialised processors needed for mining. It is best left to the ‘big boys’ who are well established. My guess, the costs of this business are initial capital costs (hundreds of processors plus expertise to connect them), premises (often large warehouses which also need lots of cooling/aircon) and when all that is set up loads of ongoing electricity costs.
It is likely these costs were underestimated, especially the running costs and then the amount of crypto currency they could mine – given competition from the big players – was overestimated. Not to mention the value of the currency you do mine is extremely volatile. It’s a highly speculative venture with huge costs and risk.
End result? Costs greater than profit and the obvious follows. You’re probably better putting your money on the favourite in the 3:15 at Cheltenham and having a fun day out in the process!