VANCOUVER, British Columbia and LONDON, Jan. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BTL GROUP LTD. (TSX Venture:BTL) (“BTL” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide further information on the next phase of its previously announced European energy trading project, under which four oil and gas supermajors and five leading energy traders including Eni Trading & Shipping, Total, Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited, Mercuria, Vattenfall, Petroineos and Freepoint, propose to participate in using BTL’s Interbit blockchain platform to deliver gas trading reconciliation through to settlement and delivery of trades. This enterprise solution is being called OneOffice and is a revenue generating project for BTL.



OneOffice - this second phase of BTL’s European energy project - follows the successful completion of the phase one pilot (see the Company’s press release dated June 5, 2017) which demonstrated the Interbit platform’s delivery of back office cost saving via smart contracts that automate trade reconciliation processes. In this second phase, BTL will work with the participants to build the OneOffice application to deliver cost savings across the trade life cycle.

Interbit, as a next generation blockchain platform, has the capacity to operate and interconnect many thousands of blockchains per server, in a secure, private and scalable manner and moreover is designed for ease of use. See the Company’s October 17, 2017 press release for more information about Interbit’s capabilities and the patents filed in connection therewith.

Francesco Romeo, Eni Trading & Shipping ICT Vice President, said, “Following our experience during the European energy pilot, we look forward to expanding the scope to enable straight through processing through the whole settlement process as well as bringing wider participation from the industry.”

“Total has been trading gas and power since 2000. At the moment, we hear a lot about blockchain and how this technology could transform the trading processes. If successful, this initiative with BTL could help us to reduce the risks of human errors and to increase the speed in the reconciliation process of transactions with our fellow counterparts,” said Philippe Chauvain, Vice President Risk Control and IT – Total Gas & Power Limited.

Catherine Newman, General Manager Global IT & Delivery, Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited, said, “Blockchain could provide cross-industry opportunities to improve the speed, security and efficiency of transactions with Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited’s counterparties at the forefront of technological developments in commodity trading. These opportunities can only be realised by working collaboratively with other commodity market participants. Although it is early stages yet, the POC with BTL represents an exciting and potentially disruptive prospect in the near future.”

“Blockchain has great potential to increase automation and efficiency of our trading operation. Back office processes for confirmation, settlement and invoicing are ideal use cases for this emerging technology. We expect significant improvements in these processes by utilising BTL’s OneOffice,” said Frank van Doorn, acting Head of Trading, Vattenfall.

“Phase two extends from trade reconciliation to settlement using our Interbit application for the natural gas trade life cycle. We are delighted to be working with some of the largest and most innovative companies in the energy sector, bringing together like-minded firms that see the potential of BTL’s industry agnostic blockchain technology in reducing risks, costs and providing better protection against cyber threats,” said Dominic McCann, BTL’s CEO. “The launch of the OneOffice project is a significant achievement for BTL as we move closer towards introducing the Interbit platform across multiple industries later this calendar quarter.”

Recent Annual General Meeting

The Company is also pleased to announce that all resolutions presented before the Company’s shareholders at its Annual and Special Meeting on January 9, 2018, received requisite approvals by shareholders of the Company. Elected as directors of the Company were Brian Hinchcliffe, John Thomson, Dominic McCann and Guy Halford-Thompson. Should the Board of Directors decide to take further action in connection with the proposed name change of the Company as approved by shareholders, it will announce such actions at the applicable times.

ABOUT BTL™ AND INTERBIT™

Listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX Venture:BTL) and operating from both Canada and the UK, BTL is an enterprise technology platform provider that is developing Interbit, a proprietary next generation blockchain platform. Via Interbit, BTL can help companies greatly reduce risks and costs by securely streamlining existing IT infrastructures. BTL has successfully demonstrated how Interbit can innovate and transform existing business processes for leading companies in the finance, energy and gaming sectors.

Interbit is a fast, private, and scalable inter-connected blockchain platform. Via its suite of APIs and smart contracts, Interbit allows businesses around the world to improve efficiency in trading and operations, accelerate development of internal systems, and embrace new revenue generating opportunities, while providing the high levels of security, resilience and auditability required in regulated enterprise environments.

With offices in Vancouver and Calgary, Canada and London, UK, BTL is positioning itself as a front-runner in the blockchain ecosystem, partnering with and enabling enterprises on Interbit in order to improve their existing IT systems.

Website: www.btl.co

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blockchainltd

Videos: https://youtu.be/YFOH0YEHLak and https://youtu.be/wx-ZOzzNx1U

For further information please contact:

Angus Campbell, Inquiries

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7100 0850

Email: Angus.Campbell@staturepr.com Dominic McCann, CEO

Phone: +1 778 834 8417

Email: dominic@btl.co



Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements, which include which parties will ultimately participate in phase 2 of the European energy trading project, achievement of desired results and the successful completion of phase 2 of the European energy trading project, the timing of the commercial launch of Interbit, further development of BTL’s business relationships and business and the development and success of BTL’s technologies and products, and other matters. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as “may”, “expect”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “believe” and “continue” or the negative thereof or similar variations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur. These assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the state of the economy in general and capital markets in particular, the development of competitive technologies, the marketplace acceptance of BTL’s technologies and products, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in BTL's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2016 available at www.sedar.com, many of which are beyond the control of BTL. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, BTL disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additionally, BTL undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third parties in respect of the matters discussed above.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.