17 January 2022

Blue Star Capital plc

("Blue Star" or the "Company")

SatoshiPay Directorate Changes and Update

Blue Star Capital plc (AIM: BLU), the investing company with a focus on esports, payments, technology and its applications within media and gaming, notes the announcement by SatoshiPay, one of its investee companies, earlier today.

SatoshiPay has today announced senior management role changes and promotions to support the expected expansion of its business to deliver Pendulum, an open-source blockchain intended to connect DeFi to foreign exchange networks, and has also provided an update on Pendulum.

Directorate and Management Changes

SatoshiPay announces that Meinhard Benn, co-founder of SatoshiPay in 2014 and current Chief Executive Officer, is changing his role to Chairman in order to focus on guiding the company's long-term vision, strategic networking and high-level community building. It also allows for the Company to put in place a Chief Executive Officer with expertise in business scaling. Alexander Wilke, the company's current Chief Operating Officer, will take on the role as Chief Executive Officer. Alexander Wilke is an entrepreneur and operations executive with more than 13 years' industry experience leading technical and business teams focussing on payments, mobile and business intelligence. As Chief Operating Officer, Alexander Wilke steered large parts of SatoshiPay, headed the strategic change in focus to cross-border payments via DTransfer and brokered large client projects, including Axel Springer and Börsenmedien.

In addition to his new role as Chairman, Meinhard Benn will continue to be a director in the group holding company, SatoshiPay Ltd, and, as a result, its current board structure will remain unchanged. He is the largest shareholder in SatoshiPay, which makes him an ideal person to represent the interests of all shareholders as Chairman of the Board going forward.

In addition, SatoshiPay also announced the following senior team changes:

·    Dr Torsten Stüber, the company's Chief Technology Officer will also become Chief Technology Officer for Pendulum

·    Former Chief Product Officer, Dr Aaron Lindner, has become Chief Strategy Officer with strong focus on Pendulum

·    Erasmus Hagen, who has been with SatoshiPay for more than 6 years, has been promoted to Head of Product with a strong focus on Pendulum

·    Tansel Inanc, who over the last three years oversaw the completion of several funding rounds, financial planning and investor relations, has become Head of Finance

·     Minh Thu Dang has been promoted to Head of Operations

·     Daniel Kisluk, a recent hire and experienced crypto marketeer, is joining as the Company's first ever Chief Marketing Officer

Pendulum Update

Further to the announcement of 2 November 2021, SatoshiPay advises that Pendulum's public testnet is currently being built and is expected to launch shortly.

SatoshiPay has sent out an updated token launch strategy to Pendulum's presale participants in which it advised that it has decided to become a parachain, a blockchain running on the decentralised node infrastructure of the Polkadot network. The major advantages of launching as a parachain are a strong, engaged community of developers and a secure decentralised network from inception. As a result, SatoshiPay intends to implement a strategic supporter round for Pendulum and, subsequently, to participate in parachain auctions. SatoshiPay expects that the parachain status will significantly elevate the importance of the Pendulum ecosystem.

SatoshiPay's B2B cross-border money transfer service DTransfer, which triggered the development of the Pendulum concept, is expected to grow at a steady pace in the coming months. DTransfer is being readied for its first Pendulum-based test money transfers and it is preparing transfer corridors with solid fiat stable coins in place.

SatoshiPay expects to provide further updates in due course.

Meinhard Benn commented:

"SatoshiPay has always been a team effort and I am very fortunate to have brought together such a talented and motivated group of pioneers, thinkers and creators. I fully trust the team to deliver on our mission of connecting the world through instant payments.

It has been an adventure navigating SatoshiPay through an emerging industry, always pushing the boundaries of what is technically possible. With Pendulum we are now initiating the development of a novel blockchain - a new chapter for the whole company, which I am excited to be part of in my new role as Chairman of the Board.

As a digital payments company, regulatory compliance and strict corporate governance is a strong focus for SatoshiPay. The resulting policies and procedures guarantee a smooth transition to our new management structure and prepare the company for the expected rapid growth."

Derek Lew commented:

"We are pleased to see these management promotions as the Company moves into its next phase of growth. Meinhard's move to Chairman allows for the execution of the board's strategic vision for SatoshiPay and Pendulum to be enhanced while Alexander's operational experience and skill provides specific focus to accelerate the company's growth within the crypto world.  The establishment of Pendulum and the synergistic benefits that will exist between DTransfer and the Pendulum blockchain are significant.  We are very encouraged by the progress already made with Pendulum and we look forward to its continued growth."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

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About Blue Star Capital

Blue Star is an investing company with a focus on new technologies. Blue Star's investments include SatoshiPay Limited, a payments business using blockchain technology; 6 early-stage to mid-level esports companies, including Guild eSports plc, a global eSports business headquartered in London whose lead investor is David Beckham and Dynasty eSports Pte Ltd., an eSports platform with a mission to become the largest eSports franchise in Asia; Leaf Mobile Inc., a mobile leading free-to-play mobile games group; NFT Investments plc, a company that engages, partners, incubates and develops non-fungible tokens; and Sthaler Limited, an identity and payments technology business which enables a consumer to identify themselves and pay using just their finger.

Forward looking statement disclaimer

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts but rather are based on the Company's current expectations, estimates, and projections about its industry; its beliefs; and assumptions. Words such as 'anticipates,' 'expects,' 'intends,' 'plans,' 'believes,' 'seeks,' 'estimates,' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company's control, are difficult to predict, and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. The Company cautions shareholders and prospective shareholder holders not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the view of the Company only as of the date of this announcement. The forward-looking statements made in this announcement relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. The Company will not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions or updates to these forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances, or unanticipated events occurring after the date of this announcement except as required by law or by any appropriate regulatory authority.