Blue Star Capital PLC (LON:BLU) Chief Executive Officer Tony Fabrizi caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss their recent update on SatoshiPay’s proof of concept with IOTA, further news for their other investments & how they are performing
Q1: We’ve seen further news today regarding the proof of concept between SatoshiPay and IOTA, are you pleased with the progress?
A1: Yes, we’re extremely pleased that they’ve announced that proof of concept is now live. Clearly, there’s still some way to go before they can actually commercialise it and start using with paying clients but it’s a significant step forward. We’re very pleased with the management team, they stuck to their timetable so yes, we believe it’s a good step forward.
Q2: What’s next for SatoshiPay?
A2: Obviously, there’s an awful lot happening in the blockchain sector, lots of different cryptocurrencies coming to market, different ledgers, so it’s a fast-evolving market which makes it so exciting for people and investors.
SatoshiPay, I think, is in a strong position in the sector it’s chosen, their relationship with IOTA is very strong and they’ve got excellent relationships with a number of different ledgers. So, we’re very comfortable they’re doing all the right things, obviously time will tell as to the speed in which they come to market but we’re very very pleased overall with their progress.
Q3: Is there any news regarding your other investments? How are they performing?
A3: Yes, we haven’t announced anything just yet on any of the other holdings recently but I suppose the one I would focus on would be Sthaler, its Fingopay which is its consumer facing brand. There was quite a lot of press a few weeks ago when they went live with Costcutter at Brunel University which was an extremely important step forward to go live with a major potential customer so that’s had a lot of publicity and has been very well received. So, we’re hoping that’s the first of many announcements from the company, it’s a shame we don’t hold a bigger stake in the company but our 1% stake will be worth quite a lot of money at one point.
Otherwise, our other big holding is DTL and there’s been no real news on that company for a while, VNU Group, their major company they have significant stake in, and we’re expecting news there probably in the next 4-6 weeks.
