Private Placement

Press Release

18 January 2021

                                                                          Argo Blockchain PLC

('Argo' or 'The Company')

£22.4 Million Private Placement with Institutional Investors and Mining Capacity Expansion

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES
OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Argo, the leading cryptocurrency miner based in the UK (LSE:ARB), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement for a private placement of its ordinary shares ("Ordinary Shares") to certain institutional investors for gross proceeds of GBP £22.4 million (the "Private Placement"). Pursuant to the Private Placement, the Company will issue 28 million Ordinary Shares (the "Placement Shares") at a purchase price of GBP £0.80 per Ordinary Share. The Private Placement is limited to those certain institutional investors that have already subscribed and this announcement should not be considered an offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States.

H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as the exclusive placement agent for the Private Placement.

The net proceeds of the Private Placement will be used by the Company for working capital and general corporate purposes, including the expansion of the Company's mining capacity in Q1 and Q2 of 2021 through a purchase from two leading manufacturers. This new mining hardware expansion is expected to be installed in batches at Core Scientific's facilities in the United States between February to June, and is scheduled to be fully operational by June 2021. This expansion will add approximately 610 petahash to the Company's installed computing power, bringing it to a total of 1,685 petahash or 1,68 Exahash by the end of Q2 2021.

Application will be made for the Placement Shares to be admitted to the standard segment of the Official List and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Admission and the closing of the Private Placement are expected to occur on or about 21 January 2021. The Placement Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company.

Following Admission, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue will be 355,828,456 and the total number of voting rights will therefore be 355,828,456. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Disclaimers:

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking statements," which can be identified by words like "may," "will," "likely," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "future," "plan," "believe," "intend," "goal," "seek," "estimate," "project," "continue" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on the Company's current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of its business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of the Company's control. The information in this news release about future plans and objectives of the Company, including the expectation to complete the private placement and the expected expenditure of the proceeds of the private placement, are forward-looking information.  The Company's actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, market and other conditions, the principal risks and uncertainties listed in our risk factors set forth in our Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 and our Interim Report as of June 30, 2020

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This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration under U.S. federal and state securities laws or an applicable exemption from such U.S. registration requirements.

About Argo:

Argo Blockchain plc is a global leader in cryptocurrency mining with one of the largest and most efficient operations powered by clean energy. The Company is headquartered in London, UK and its shares are listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker: ARB.

argoblockchain.com

See Argo's largest facility in Quebec:

https://youtu.be/LDWWaZ75Zbk