HIVE Blockchain provides production update from February 2023

by Arthur · March 2, 2023

Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – March 3, 2023) – HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: HIVE) (NASDAQ: HIVE) (FSE: HBFA) (the “Company” or “HIVE”) is pleased to announce the production figures from the Company’s global Bitcoin operations for the month of February 2023, with 250 Bitcoins produced in February, and a current BTC HODL balance of approximately 2,340 Bitcoin mined using computational power derived from green energy. The company notes that it reached over 3 Exahash (EH) of Bitcoin mining capacity in February (all amounts in US dollars, unless otherwise stated).

Summary overview:

HIVE produced 250 Bitcoin in the month of February, from ASIC and GPU mining, representing an average of 91 Bitcoin Per EH, with an average hashrate of 2.75 EH/s for the month of February 2023;
HIVE reached its 3 EH/s target at the end of February by mining at full capacity of 3080 PH/si at the end of February. HIVE ended the month with 2.81 EH/s mining capacity;
HIVE has installed over 4,200 BuzzMiners to date. HIVE has received over 5600 Buzzminers in its data centers and continues to install them to increase the overall hash rate;
HIVE expects to receive an additional 645 BuzzMiners over the next 2 months, representing a total production quantity of 6300 BuzzMiners powered by Intel Blockscale ASIC for the first production run. HIVE is the first company in the world to commercially deploy thousands of its own Bitcoin ASIC miners powered by Intel Blockscale ASIC.

February 2023 Production figures

Frank Holmes, Executive Chairman of HIVE, stated: “We are very pleased to have produced 250 Bitcoin during the month. Our team has focused on profitability, with 25% gross mining margins in our last financial quarter for the 3 months ending 31 December, 2022. We seek to optimize profit from gross mining margins, on a monthly basis, by optimizing the efficiency of our operating fleet, and strategic curtailment or grid balancing.As a result, our average power cost globally was 3.4 cents per KWHR in our last fiscal quarter. We view grid balancing as part of our core revenue and ESG strategy and, where possible, seek to hedge energy prices.”

If you have not seen our most recent quarterly results, we recommend that you view “Hive’s Third Quarter 2023 Results: Webcast: HIVE Announces Adjusted EBITDA of $1.5 Million.”

Aydin Kilic, President and CEO of HIVE, noted: “We have increased our total hash rate by 16% month over month from January 2023 to February 2023. We are continuously looking to optimize the allocation of energy as a resource. This month we did not it. sell energy back to the grid, but rather increased our operating hash rate as this was the most profitable mode of operation. Additionally, our remaining GPU fleet now generates approximately $100/MWHR in revenue, which is greater than $/MWHR compared to Bitcoin ASIC miners in current Bitcoin mining economy, for example a S19j Pro, generates about $93/MWHR with 43.1T difficulty and Bitcoin at $23,000. I am very proud of our team, which has shown expertise in optimizing the use of our GPUs. Even more Impressive is that our GPU-HPC pilot project has generated approximately USD 1,800/MWHR in revenue We continuously optimize the use of our technology resources as a company to optimize profits These progress and a gility allow us to generate positive gross margin during a crypto mining bear market. With a strong balance sheet of over $56 million worth of Bitcoin, HIVE is well positioned in the market today.”

The company’s total Bitcoin production in February 2023 was:

250 BTC produced;
8.9 BTC produced per day on average;
2.81 Exahash of BTC hashrate as of February 28, consisting of 2.58 Exahash of ASIC BTC hashrate and 0.23 Exahash of GPU BTC equivalent hashrate;
Monthly average of 2.75 Exahash, which is equal to 91 Bitcoin per Exahash, consisting of an average of 2.58 Exahash of ASIC mining capacity and average of 170 PH/s of Bitcoin GPU mining capacity during the month;
This represents a 16% month-over-month increase in average hashrate (January was 2.38 EH/s average hashrate).

Bitcoin HODL Update

As of today’s press release, HIVE has approximately 2,365 Bitcoin, with a market capitalization of over $56 million.

HIVE sold a total of 267.7 BTC for a total net proceeds of $6.6 million in February 2023.

The difficulty of mining the Bitcoin Global Network is volatile

Network difficulty factors are a significant variable in the company’s gross profit margins. The Bitcoin network difficulty was 39.4 T per 1 February, and increased to 43.1 T per 28 February, reaching a record high. Consequently, Bitcoin mining difficulty ended the month about 9% higher than the beginning of the month.

Bitcoin Network Difficulty is a publicly available statistic that reflects the total number of Bitcoin miners online and is important for analyzing a company’s gross profit margins and the number of Bitcoins produced. This data is available on many websites, here is one quote:

As more people mine Bitcoin (difficulty increases), the daily Bitcoin block reward currently set at 900 Bitcoin per day is split between more miners; thus each miner receives a smaller portion of the block reward. Conversely, when Bitcoin prices fall, many miners may lose money and shut down, thus removing their hashrate from the network, leading to a reduction in network difficulty.

Those miners with the lowest production costs; by virtue of having more efficient machinery and/or lower energy costs, are able to continue their production during these volatile cycles. Not all miners will mine continuously during the month, as a result some miners will produce less Bitcoin than expected, relative to their advertised hashrate. For the foregoing reasons, HIVE will self-limit parts of its operations if the unsecured spot energy prices are uneconomical, thereby leaving parts of its total gross hash rate unused.

All Bitcoin miners strive to use the most efficient Bitcoin ASIC chips and we are pleased that we have been able to upgrade our global fleet during this downturn in the crypto market.

About HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.

HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. went public in 2017 as the first cryptocurrency mining company with a green energy and ESG strategy.

HIVE is a growth-oriented technology share in the emerging blockchain industry. As a company whose shares are traded on a major exchange, we are building a bridge between the digital currency and blockchain sector and traditional capital markets. HIVE owns state-of-the-art, green energy-powered data center facilities in Canada, Sweden and Iceland, where we seek to source green energy to mine digital assets such as Bitcoin on the cloud. Since the beginning of 2021, HIVE has held in secure storage the majority of the treasury of ETH and BTC derived from mining rewards. Our shares give investors exposure to the operating margins of digital currency mining, as well as a portfolio of Bitcoin. Because HIVE also owns hard assets such as data centers and advanced multipurpose servers, we believe our shares offer investors an attractive way to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency space.

We encourage you to visit HIVE’s YouTube channel here to learn more about HIVE.

For more information and to sign up for 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.
“Frank Holmes”
Executive Chairman

For more information please contact:
Frank Holmes
Phone: (604) 664-1078

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

Forward-looking information

Except for the statements of historical fact, this press release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws that is based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this press release. “Forward-looking information” in this news release includes, but is not limited to, business goals and objectives of the Company; the operating results for February 2023; The HODL strategy adopted by the company; acquisition, deployment and optimization of the mining fleet and equipment; the continued viability of its existing Bitcoin mining operations; and other forward-looking information about the intentions, plans and future actions of the parties to the transactions described herein and the terms thereof.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the volatility of the digital currency market; the Company’s ability to mine digital currency; The Company may not be able to profitably liquidate its current digital currency holdings as needed, or at all; a material decline in digital currency prices could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business; the volatility of digital currency prices; continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s performance as supply chains are disrupted and prevent the Company from executing its expansion plans or operating its assets; and other related risks as more fully described in the registration statement of the Company and other documents disclosed during the Company’s filings on www.sec.gov/EDGAR and www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking information in this press release reflects the company’s current expectations, assumptions and/or beliefs based on information available to the company. In connection with the forward-looking information in this press release, the company has made assumptions about the company’s goals, objectives or future plans, the timing of these and related matters. The company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside the company’s normal operations. Although the Company believes that the assumptions contained in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and, accordingly, such information should not be relied upon due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

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