RETRANSMISSION: HIVE Achieves Record Annual Revenue Ended March 31, 2021 of $66.7 Million and Earnings of $43.5 Million

This news release constitutes a “designated news release” for the purposes of the Company’s prospectus supplement dated February 2, 2021 to its short form base shelf prospectus dated January 27, 2021.

Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – September 24, 2021) – HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: HIVE) (NASDAQ: HIVE) (FSE: HBF) (the “Company” or “HIVE”) announces its results for the full year ended March 31, 2021 (all amounts in US dollars, unless otherwise indicated).

Income from digital currency mining was $66.7 million this fiscal year, a 174% increase from the prior year. Record net income of $42.5 million, up significantly from a loss of $1.9 million a year earlier, and $2.9 million lower than the previous quarter. Gross mining margin expanded to $50.1 million, from $8.5 million last year, and is $17.1 million higher than that experienced in the prior quarter of $10.6 million. Net income per share grew to $0.12 from a loss of $0.01 during the prior year and is $0.01 lower than the previous quarter of December 31, 2020.

“Fiscal 2021 was an incredible year for HIVE. Despite the effects of COVID-19 we have achieved record results and continued to increase our Ethereum and Bitcoin mining capacity,” said Frank Holmes, Interim Executive Chairman of HIVE.

“During the fiscal year, we assumed direct responsibility for all our cryptocurrency mining operations from our former strategic partner and continued to see significant reductions in the overhead of these operations, which included our Ethereum mining facility in Iceland. During the COVID-19 pandemic we completed the acquisition of Cryptologic Corp. in April 2020, giving us a substantial Bitcoin cloud mining operation, in Quebec, Canada. We have continued to expand our capacity at this facility through the purchase and installation of next generation Bitcoin mining equipment.

“Our focus on Ethereum mining in Sweden and Iceland continues to be strong as we spent substantial time and capital in upgrading the majority of our GPU memory cards from 4 giga-bytes to 8 giga-bytes to continue to remain profitable when the DAG file increased. We also undertook a corporate restructuring in Sweden to become a Data Centre business with a long term HPC strategy while remaining true to our roots as an Ethereum miner.

“Going forward, our focus is on improving efficiency and profitability across our mining operations by optimizing cryptocurrency mining output, continuing to lower costs, and maximizing our existing electrical and infrastructure capacity by installing new mining equipment as quickly as possible to leverage our fixed cost base and improve future mining margins.

“This expansion and capital spending has been partially facilitated by the $100 million At-The-Market Program that we commenced in the last quarter of the year. This has allowed us to HODL 25,000 ETH and purchase new ASIC machines to expand and mine Bitcoin to HODL.

“As it relates to our industry, Ethereum market conditions for miners improved significantly over the last year, driven by price increases and the adoption of the network for decentralized finance applications. Bitcoin mining conditions have also improved with strong price increase since the halving on May 11, 2020, the date when HIVE started mining with new generation miners at its facility in Quebec. We continue to believe we are well positioned to benefit from the continued adoption of Ethereum and Bitcoin globally.”

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Fiscal Year 2021 Highlights

• Generated income from digital currency mining of $66.7 million, with a gross mining margin^[1] of $50.1 million
• Mined 595 Bitcoin and over 96,300 Ethereum during the year ended March 31, 2021
• Earned net income of $42.5 million for the year
• Working capital increased by $86.6 million during the year ended March 31, 2021

Digital currency assets of $57.5 million, as at March 31, 2021

Fiscal 2021 Financial Review

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, income from digital currency mining was $66.7 million, an increase of approximately 128% from the prior year primarily due to an increase in the production of Ethereum and Bitcoin stemming from mining expansion, and considerably higher coin prices compared to the prior year.

Gross mining margin¹ during the year was $50.1 million, or 75% of income from digital currency mining, compared to $8.5 million, or 24% of income from digital currency mining, in fiscal 2020. The improvement was primarily due to the Company’s assumption of control over its operations in Sweden during fiscal 2020, which has resulted in a lower cost of operations than under the Company’s previous service provider agreement, combined with the cessation of Bitcoin cloud mining operations after they became unprofitable in the third quarter of fiscal 2020, and the switch to independent mining at our bitcoin mining facility in Quebec. The Company’s gross mining margin from digital currency mining is partially dependent on external network factors including mining difficulty, the amount of digital currency rewards and fees it receives for mining, as well as the market price of digital currencies.

Net income during fiscal 2021 was $42.5 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.7 million, or loss of $0.01 per share, in fiscal 2020. The improvement was driven primarily by the improvement in gross mining margin¹, higher Ethereum and Bitcoin prices, gains on the sale of digital currencies, and foreign exchange.

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