VANCOUVER, BC, July 28, 2020
/CNW/ - HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSX.V: HIVE)
(OTCQX: HVBTF) (FSE: HBF) (the "Company" or "HIVE") is pleased to
announce that it will become a development partner in the Boden
Type Data Center (BTDC) research project, a European Union-funded
project with the key objective of demonstrating a range of highly
innovative key engineering principles to construct the most cost-
and energy-efficient data centers with minimal environmental
impact. The BTDC was awarded the prize of Non-Profit Industry
Initiative of the Year by Data Center Dynamics in December 2019. The Company also announces that
due to circumstances created by the COVID-19 global pandemic, the
Company will not be filing its audited financial statements for the
year ended March 31, 2020 by the
scheduled due date of July 29, 2020
and will be relying on the 45-day extension period provided to
issuers by Canadian regulators; it expects to complete its filings
during August.
BTDC Development Partnership
The BTDC pilot project utilized a range of techniques, processes
and equipment developed by cooling provider EcoCooling (UK). The
BTDC prototype inaugurated in early 2019 has achieved a
significantly better Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) than typical
data centers, of less than 1.01; a PUE rating of 1.0 is equivalent
to a 100% efficient facility. PUE is the ratio between the total
power used in a data center and the actual useful power used by the
data center's IT equipment. A normal data centre has a PUE between
1.6 and 2.2, which means that for every 1,000 watts (W) of power
output delivered by the data center's IT equipment, another 600W to
1,200W are used for cooling, power conversion losses, etc.
"Our mission at HIVE is to provide High Performance Computing
capacity with environmental responsibility," said Tobias Ebel, Board Director, HIVE. "Our past
achievements have been very good but the BTDC presents an
opportunity to set new standards for this sector. We are targeting
a PUE of <1.01 in the BTDC with a plan to apply this in both new
projects and retrospectively incorporate these techniques and
processes into our existing facilities."
The success of the BTDC has been achieved by using the
EcoCooling approach of direct fresh air cooling combined with a
holistic approach to integrating the cooling system with the IT
equipment.
Alan Beresford, MD, of
EcoCooling: "The collaboration with HIVE in the BTDC project is a
great opportunity for EcoCooling to develop a complete solution for
both business needs and environmental responsibilities. said.
"Our key objective is to make HIVE the most efficient and lowest
cost GPU operator in the world."
EcoCooling will work with HIVE to assist in HIVE's plan to
expand its High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities with the
lowest cost of operation, rapid deployment and minimum
environmental impact. HIVE currently operates green energy-powered
digital currency mining facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland which produce newly minted digital
currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum continuously. Its Graphic
Processing Unit (GPU)-based facilities in Sweden and Iceland provide transaction validation
services for the Ethereum blockchain, a global, open-source
platform for decentralized applications, for which it receives
newly minted Ether (ETH), the Ethereum network's native
cryptocurrency and a form of digital money.
These locations are preferred for two key reasons – green energy
and a low cost of power. HPC is an extremely competitive sector in
which the lowest total cost of operation is key to success. The
market is also extremely dynamic, both in volume of work and
rapidly changing technologies.
"Large scale HPC, including for mining of cryptocurrencies such
as Bitcoin and Ethereum, is a growth market. This research project
is designed to provide us one of the foundations to making HIVE a
more efficient and profitable operation with the lowest
environmental impact," explained Frank
Holmes, Interim Executive Chairman of HIVE.
The BTDC is an Horizon2020 research project funded by the EU and
designed to result in an improvement in the efficiency of data
centers, which consume 3% to 5% of global power. Future
applications are expected to drive demand even further. The
consortium is made up of EcoCooling, H1 Systems, RISE SICS North,
Fraunhofer IOSB and Boden Business Agency
One aspect of this research is to increase the power density of
the equipment racks so more GPUs can be installed per square metre,
resulting in a lower real estate cost. The established solution to
this is to use direct liquid cooling of servers or chips when the
density exceeds 40kW per rack. It is planned to test direct fresh
air cooling up to the equivalent of 70kW per rack with no
refrigerants or other heat transfer chemicals.
Darcy Daubaras, CFO, HIVE: "In
our market total cost of ownership is obviously a key to success.
The BTDC project will give us an opportunity to develop not only
the most efficient, and therefore lowest operating cost, solution
to HPC but also the most flexible. The development of
infrastructure which can accommodate new computer technologies with
rapid deployment will be a key outcome for HIVE."
BTDC One, the first installation of the concept, is situated in
Boden, Northern Sweden. All power
is produced from local hydro electric stations on the river Lulea.
Being very close to the Arctic circle, the climate can support
continuous cooling of data centres without the need for
refrigeration.
The announcement of this collaboration between HIVE and the BTDC
is important for the HPC sector. The research should lead to
unparalleled levels of efficiency in HPC which shall be applied to
large scale facilities. The installation commenced in July and the
project team expects to publish results on the BTDC website.
Annual Financial Statements
Due to the Company's globally diversified operations and timing
for its annual audit stemming from its March
31 fiscal year end, the COVID-19 global pandemic has
resulted in delays for the Company in its preparation of its
financial statements. Like other companies in the industry, due to
circumstances created and delays experienced by the COVID-19 global
pandemic,the Company will utilize the 45-day extension period
provided to issuers in Canada for
the filing of the Company's audited financial statements, related
management discussion and analysis and certifications of the
financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. The Company expects to file its
audited financial statements, related management discussion and
analysis and certifications of financial statements for the fiscal
year ended March 31, 2020 in August
rather than the scheduled due date of July
29, 2020. For the same reason, the Company also anticipates
at this time it will file its quarterly report and management
discussion and analysis for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 in September rather than the
scheduled due date of August 29,
2020.
On May 20, 2020, the Canadian
Securities Administrators ("CSA") issued a notice stating that
securities regulators will be providing coordinated relief
consisting of a 45-day extension for certain periodic filings
required to be made between June 2,
2020 and August 31, 2020, as a
result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such the British Columbia
Securities Commission ("BCSC") has enacted Instrument 51-517 -
Temporary Exemption from Certain Corporate Finance Requirements
with Deadlines during the Period from June 2
to August 31, 2020 ("BC Instrument 51-517"). The Company
will be relying on this extension period due to delays experienced
as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As required by BC Instrument 51-517, the Company discloses the
following:
The Company expects to file its audited financial statements,
related management discussion and analysis and certifications of
financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 on or about August 28, 2020 and the quarterly report for the
quarter ended June 30, 2020 along
with the management discussion and analysis on or about
September 25, 2020; and
In the interim, the Company's management and other insiders will
be subject to a trading black-out policy that reflects the
principles in Section 9 of National Policy 11-207 - Failure-to-File
Cease Trade Orders.
The Company confirms that since the filing of its financial
statements and related management discussion and analysis for the
period ended December 31st, 2019,
there have been no material business developments other than those
disclosed through news releases.
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 owns state-of-the-art digital
currency mining facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland which produce newly minted digital
currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum continuously. Our deployments
provide shareholders with exposure to the operating margins of
digital currency mining as well as a growing portfolio of
crypto-coins.
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.
"Frank Holmes"
Interim Executive Chairman
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. The information in this news
release that is forward-looking information, include:
statements about anticipated dates for the filing of the Company's
annual and quarterly financial statements and related filings;
statements about the BTDC project; PUE targets and plans to apply
these target's to the Company's new projects and retrospectively
into the Company's existing facilities; development of the most
efficient and lowest operating cost facilities; development of
infrastructure which can accommodate new computer technologies with
rapid deployment; installation and published results deadlines; and
the intentions, plans and future actions of the Company.
This forward-looking information is based on reasonable
assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time
it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance
or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among
others: the Company may not file its annual and quarterly financial
statements as currently contemplated; an increase in
power usage efficiency and lower operating costs may not occur as
currently anticipated, or at all; the Company may never realize
more efficient operations, a lower cost structure, or greater
flexibility in operation; and other related risks as
more fully set out in the Company's continuous disclosure record
filed at www.sedar.com. The Company has also assumed that no
significant events occur outside of the
Company's normal course of business. Although the
Company has attempted to identify important factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other
factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove
to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ
materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly,
readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
information. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise
or update any forward -looking information other than
as required by law.
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SOURCE HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.