HIVE Blockchain Closes Final Tranche of $115 Million Financing

29 Dec 2017

Zug, Switzerland and Vancouver, Canada – HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSX.V:HIVE) (the “Company” or “HIVE”), the leading publicly listed blockchain infrastructure company, is pleased to announce that it has closed the final C$65 million tranche (the “Final Tranche”) of its previously announced private placement of up to C$115 million (the “Offering”), co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and Eventus Capital Corp. and including Haywood Securities Inc. and PI Financial Corp. (collectively, the “Agents”). The Final Tranche consisted of a total of 20,634,800 units (the “Units”) sold at a price of C$3.15 per Unit for gross proceeds raised of C$64,999,620. Each Unit consists of one common share (a “Share”) and one Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one Share at a price of C$3.90 until November 14, 2019. The Shares and the Warrants issued under the Final Tranche are subject to a hold period expiring April 30, 2018. The Company anticipates that the Warrants will be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange”) shortly after the hold period expires, subject to meeting the conditions in Exchange approval. In connection with the Final Tranche, the Agents received a cash commission of up to 6% of the gross proceeds raised in the Final Tranche, excluding any proceeds raised from Genesis Mining Ltd. (“Genesis”). In aggregate, a total of 36,507,900 Units were issued in connection with the Offering for gross proceeds raised of C$115 million.

HIVE also announces that Genesis, an insider and the largest shareholder of the Company, purchased 952,380 Units as part of the Final Tranche of the Offering for an investment of approximately C$3 million. Following the Offering, Genesis owns 77,412,655 common shares in the capital of the Company, representing 25.62% of the issued and outstanding shares of HIVE and would own 26.29% on a partially diluted basis, assuming the exercise of 2,770,560 share purchase warrants. The Units were acquired by Genesis for investment purposes and Genesis may in the future wish to increase or decrease its shareholdings in the Company as circumstances warrant. Prior to the completion of the Offering, Genesis held 76,460,275 common shares in the capital of the Company, representing 28.78% of the issued and outstanding shares of HIVE.

“This financing provided us with a highly accretive growth opportunity – increasing our overall computing power by more than 150% (from 17.4 MW to 44.2 MW) with just 11% dilution to shareholders,” said Harry Pokrandt, President, CEO and a Director at HIVE. “In addition to our fully funded projects in Sweden, we will now have a strong working capital balance of approximately US$50M and significant flexibility to explore further projects and acquisitions.”

The net proceeds of the Offering are expected to be used to fund the completion of the 20.0 MW Sweden Bitcoin Data Centre and the 6.8 MW Phase 3 Expansion at the Sweden GPU Data Centre (as described in the Company’s December 13, 2017 news release), and for general working capital purposes. The Company’s first phase of expansion into Sweden is well underway with completion expected by mid- January. Upon completion of all phases, HIVE will have a total of 24.2 MW of GPU-based and 20.0 MW of ASIC-based mining capacity across Sweden and Iceland.


About HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.

HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. is a growth oriented, TSX.V-listed company building a bridge from the blockchain sector to traditional capital markets. HIVE is strategically partnered with Genesis Mining Ltd. to build the next generation of blockchain infrastructure. HIVE owns state-of-the-art GPU-based digital currency mining facilities in Iceland, which produce newly minted virgin digital currency like Ethereum around the clock, and is in the midst of a major expansion of operations into Sweden.

For more information and to register to HIVE’s mailing list, please visit www.HIVEblockchain.com. Follow @HIVEblockchain on Twitter and subscribe to HIVE’s YouTube channel.
 

On Behalf Of HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.

"Harry Pokrandt"
President, CEO and Director
 

For further information please contact:

Harry Pokrandt
Tel: (604) 609-6110

 

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Information

Except for the statements of historical fact, this news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. “Forward-looking information” in this news release includes information about the use of proceeds for the Offering; listing of the Warrants; the expansion (including expected completion date) and expected equipment and electrical consumption of the Company’s digital currency mining operations in Sweden; percentage increase in overall computing power; exploration of further projects and acquisitions;  the business goals and objectives of the Company, and other forward-looking information includes but is not limited to information concerning the intentions, plans and future actions of the parties to the transactions described herein and the terms thereon.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the expansion of digital currency mining operations in Sweden (including construction of planned facilities and expected timelines to completion) may not occur as currently planned, or at all; Exchange approval for the listing of the Warrants may not occur; the quantum of computational power, equipment acquisition and electrical consumption expected by the Company in Sweden may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; the digital currency market; the Company’s ability to successfully mine digital currency; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on the Company’s operations; the volatility of digital currency prices; and other related risks as more fully set out in the Filing Statement of the Company dated September 13, 2017.

The forward-looking information in this news release reflects the current expectations, assumptions and/or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made assumptions about the Company’s ability to complete of its expansion of digital currency operations in Sweden; the Company’s ongoing partnership with Genesis; historical prices of digital currencies and the ability of the Company to mine digital currencies will be consistent with historical prices; and there will be no regulation or law that will prevent the Company from operating its business. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the Company's normal course of business. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.