Priority supply agreement between Argo and ePIC

Press release

22 February 2021

Argo Blockchain PLC

('Argo' or 'The Company')

Priority Supply and Collaboration Agreement Between Argo and ePIC

Argo Blockchain, the leading cryptocurrency miner based in the UK (LSE: ARB), is pleased to announce it has signed a commercial agreement with ePIC Blockchain Technologies (ePIC), a supplier of industry-leading ASIC mining machines which will allow Argo priority access to state-of-the-art ASIC mining rigs. The companies will also work together throughout the development process to build machines specifically to Argo's specifications. 

As part of the agreement, Argo has committed to an initial purchase of US$8 million of ePIC's mining rigs and will have priority on all future production runs of ePIC machines globally for 2021 and 2022. Expected delivery of the machines will begin in early Q4, 2021. Larger scale delivery of ePIC machines will commence in 2022. 

In addition, the Company will assist in the development and testing of future products and will be given an option of a first right of refusal to purchase additional production. Argo will also provide space and capacity at one of its facilities for ePIC's research and innovation engineering teams for development purposes for future machines. 

Based in North America, the ePIC team has a winning track record of designing and delivering industry leading semiconductors for companies such as Sony, Nintendo, AMD, ATI Technologies Inc, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and others. Their experience in high performance computing, parallel processing, and power efficiency is exceptional.  

Peter Wall, Chief Executive of Argo Blockchain, said: "We are really excited about this agreement and working with ePIC, one of the industry's preeminent ASIC design firms. This partnership will not only give Argo priority in accessing the most advanced mining infrastructure available, but it also highlights our reputation within the sector as an innovative and forward-thinking cryptocurrency miner. By working with a world-class supplier of ASICs at the development and R&D phase to collaboratively create machines to our own specification, it will only further our technical capabilities and efficiency in our mining operations."

Henry Quan, ePIC CEO, said: "ePIC is delighted to partner with Argo to establish North America as a center of excellence for Blockchain mining and decentralization of blockchain security to rival Asia. The teams at ePIC and Argo are strategically aligned in the quest to deliver innovative solutions and efficiencies only made possible through a close partnership. This vertical integration of sorts enables the lockstep delivery of advanced blockchain platforms combined with datacenter excellence."

Perry Hothi, Chief Technical Officer of Argo said: "This will be a game changer for Argo and ePIC. We are excited with the synergy between our teams. With the expertise of ePIC on the chip side combined with the mining capabilities of Argo, we truly believe this will enable us to be at the cutting edge of mining, from chip to data centre."

This announcement contains inside information.

For further information please visit www.argoblockchain.com or contact:

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

About ePIC Blockchain 

ePIC Blockchain is North America's only  Cryptocurrency ASIC and Mining Rig supplier. ePIC 's engineering team has developed semiconductor technology for many popular products in use over the past decade including 10 generations of AMD GPUs, six generations of game consoles, plus several generations of Smartphone devices. ePIC currently has one rig in production and additional products for release in 2021.

www.epicblockchain.io