Update re. BTL Group Ltd

8 November 2018

Vela Technologies plc

("Vela" or the "Company")

Update re. BTL Group Ltd

The Board of Vela (AIM: VELA), the investing company focused on early-stage and pre-IPO disruptive technology investments, notes that BTL Group Ltd ("BTL") announced yesterday a development update on its Interbit™ Megachain Platform (Version III).

Vela holds, as at the date of this announcement, 620,000 common shares in BTL equivalent to approximately 2.6 per cent. of BTL's issued share capital. BTL is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, on which the closing mid-market price on 7 November 2018 of BTL's common shares was C$2.72 per share which values Vela's shareholding in BTL at approximately C$1.69 million (equivalent to £0.98 million*).

Extracts from the BTL announcement are copied below:

BTL™ Provides Development Update on Interbit™ Megachain Platform (Version III)

BTL GROUP LTD. (TSX Venture: BTL) ("BTL" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its efforts to advance Interbit™, the megachain technology platform it is building with the objective of being able to run 1,000,000+ chains simultaneously, and supporting the complex Enterprise level applications presented to the Company. BTL began development of the Interbit™ platform three years ago to overcome the limitations of single blockchain platforms. Following the release of Interbit™ (version II) in April 2018, the Company concluded from feedback that the revenue possibilities and its competitive position would be enhanced if it significantly increased the chain-joining and chain generation capacity of the platform. Since then, the Company has re-architected the Interbit™ platform (version III) towards this unique megachain vision, which it targets to complete in Q1 of 2019.

"To achieve megachain scale in this current post-blockchain era, the Interbit™ platform has been crafted as a recursive function. The property of the underlying Interbit™ platform to be able to execute in emulation mode, another running version of itself, is the purest test of completeness that any software platform can aspire too. The fractal like nature of the platform allows a lightness, speed, and a self-healing characteristic well beyond databases with cryptography, or even single chain blockchains. The self-proving correctness of recursion is necessary for stable operation at the megachain scale," said Tom Thompson, CTO of the Company.

·      In the previous two versions of the Interbit™ platform, chain-joining served to facilitate external interaction, whereas in the latest iteration of the platform, chain-joining now characterizes all interaction of internal and external exchanges of data. As the platform now contemplates operating across fleets of computers at megachain levels of data exchange and shared computation, consistent chain-joining across all data exchange points is required.

·      The Company also advises that it is seeking to come to terms on a licensing and development arrangement with Helix Applications Inc. ("Helix"), a newly established application development company. These arrangements target giving Helix access to the Interbit™ platform and its unique capabilities until platform development is completed, which is expected in Q1 of 2019.

·      Further, the Company announces that it is in discussions to be a technology platform provider to a potential joint venture that includes Helix and a significant technology party, which proposes to launch a project global in reach and the Interbit™ platform's megachain capacity could be uniquely capable of a technical solution. The Company regards the joint venture discussions to be advanced and expects discussions to be successfully completed.

·      On September 20, 2018 the Company announced the filing of a sixth patent application for the Interbit™ platform - the "Hyperconvergence Application". The Company commenced filing patent applications for the platform in October of 2017 (see the Company's October 17, 2017 press release) and accordingly has recently filed International applications for those patents.

·      Using the technical knowledge from this sixth patent application and the lightness afforded by the Interbit™ platform's recursive design, we expect to able to increase the concurrency and elasticity of Interbit™ platform solutions, thereby achieving megachain scale on the platform.

·      In addition a clear endpoint for development of the Interbit™ platform has been set - when it can run a megachain scale demonstration, fully emulated inside of another megachain solution, and the system correctness is self-proving, the platform will be ready for external auditing for production deployments.

The Company will issue additional press releases should it come to definitive terms on the licensing and development arrangement with Helix and should it finalize terms for its involvement in the above mentioned joint venture.

ABOUT BTL™ AND INTERBIT™

Listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX Venture: BTL) and operating from both Canada and the UK with offices in Vancouver, Calgary and London, BTL is a technology platform provider that owns the Interbit™ platform, a 3^rd generation blockchain platform which enables business applications to be built quickly, easily and securely.

The Interbit™ platform can be licensed by developers and businesses who can build and share their own applications in a trusted ecosystem, allowing them to embrace new revenue generating opportunities. Interbit™ meets the speed, scale and privacy that older generations of blockchain technology cannot achieve by using its chain joining technology to connect multiple blockchains. It offers a simpler, more secure, new way of computing.

Website: www.btl.co & www.interbit.io
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blockchainltd & https://twitter.com/interbit
Videos: https://youtu.be/YFOH0YEHLak & https://youtu.be/eWI-0AXaZgc

For further information please contact:

Dominic McCann, CEO

Phone: +1 855 256 5246

Email: [email protected]

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements, which include further development of BTL's business relationships and business and the timing, development. launch and success of BTL's technologies and products (including, without limitation, successful development of the Interbit platform such that it can support 1,000,000+ blockchains running simultaneously), approval of the patent applications filed by BTL and the patents granted in connection therewith, coming to definitive terms with Helix on a licensing and development arrangement, finalizing terms for involvement in the mentioned joint venture, 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, 2017 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.

*Based on the exchange rate as on 8 November 2018 of C$1: GB£0.582

For further information, please contact: