Vela investment BTL makes progress in energy and finance spaces

13th Jan 2017 15:44

(ShareCast News) - Early stage and pre-IPO disruptive technology investment firm Vela noted an announcement released by BTL Group on Friday, which provided details on BTL's blockchain pilot project with a leading energy company and an update on BTL's previously-announced pilot in the finance and banking space.The AIM-traded company currently holds 783,332 common shares in BTL equivalent to approximately 4.6% of BTL, which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.In the announcement, BTL confirmed it completed a revenue generating pilot project with a leading, global energy company.As part of the energy pilot, BTL developed internal use cases for blockchain solutions in the client's oil and energy trading division.The aim was to identify areas internal to the client's business in which BTL's blockchain platform, Interbit, could enable significant efficiency and related cost savings.BTL said they and the client are now jointly assessing further commercialisation strategies for the Interbit platform in the energy trading space for the benefit of both BTL and the client.In the finance sector, BTL said it is working with large financial companies and banks to progress the initial pilot announced in September last year, which generates revenues for BTL.That development brings BTL one step closer to proving the concept of how a blockchain based interbank payment network can reduce costs, its board said."We've had a fantastic start to 2017 and are very excited to have built credibility that allows us to continue to make groundbreaking progress in the financial space," said BTL co-founder and CEO Guy Halford-Thompson."On top of this, we are equally as excited to complete another globally significant blockchain pilot, this time with a leading energy company."Halford-Thompson said the company's work in the energy sector was further proof that blockchain and 'distributed ledger technology' has potential to significantly transform the space."We are confident that if our Interbit platform were to be commercially deployed, it would improve energy trading efficiency in the energy trading space."