Lars Seier Christensen is a Danish entrepreneur and investor with a background in financial markets and technology, and founder and chairman of Concordium. He is also known for co-founding Saxo Bank and for his investment activities through Seier Capital. ^[7]

Career

Christensen began his career in finance in London in 1988, focusing on foreign exchange and derivatives trading. After completing secondary education, he moved to Spain, where he started a restaurant, marking his first entrepreneurial venture. In 1992, he co-founded Saxo Bank, a multi-asset trading and investment platform offering services to institutional and private clients as well as white-label infrastructure to other financial institutions. He served as co-CEO for approximately 20 years, overseeing the company’s growth, before stepping down in 2016. In 2018, he sold his remaining ownership stake in Saxo Bank to Geely and Sampo.

After leaving Saxo Bank, Christensen focused on investments through his family office, Seier Capital, which invests across multiple industries. His more recent activities have centered on blockchain technology and digital financial infrastructure, including involvement in Concordium, reflecting an emphasis on compliance-oriented blockchain systems. In addition to finance and technology, he has been involved in the restaurant sector, with ownership interests in establishments such as Geranium, Alchemist, and Cafe Dan Turell. ^{[1] [3]}

Interviews

Founder AMA

In a Concordium AMA from August 2023, Christensen reflected on Concordium’s journey, emphasizing its solid scientific foundation, scalable technology, and commitment to compliance to facilitate mainstream adoption of blockchain. He acknowledged that despite building strong technology, the company lagged in marketing and awareness efforts, which he prioritized to increase use cases and visibility. Christensen highlighted that Concordium maintains competitive advantages through its integrated ID infrastructure and hierarchical approach, despite facing market competition and lower on-chain activity than desired. He discussed ongoing and future collaborations, regulatory considerations, tokenomics reviews, and plans for transparency reports, stablecoins, and ecosystem visibility. While noting the absence of an immediate CEO appointment, he reassured stakeholders of steady progress and emphasized the importance of quality over speed. Christensen also addressed regulatory engagements, community contributions, and strategic partnerships, stressing the industry’s evolving landscape and the need for compliance. Overall, he expressed confidence in Concordium’s future growth, underlining ongoing efforts to enhance technology, ecosystem visibility, and global partnerships to support mass adoption. ^[6]

Founding Concordium

On the Off the Blocks podcast in March 2022, Christensen shared his extensive background in fintech and blockchain, emphasizing his early involvement in internet-based trading platforms with Saxo Bank and his interest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. He explained the motivation behind creating Concordium, focusing on solving issues such as anonymity, scalability, and energy consumption prevalent in earlier blockchain generations, to enable mainstream adoption. Christensen addressed community concerns about tokenomics, potential sales, and transparency, stating that neither he nor the foundation has any plans to sell tokens in the near future and that the project has solid financial backing. He highlighted ongoing efforts to increase demand through exchange listings, partnerships, and use cases, as well as the importance of protocol-level identity solutions for regulatory compliance. Christensen expressed confidence in blockchain’s transformative potential for economies and social structures, stressing the need for accessible technology that bridges mainstream businesses with blockchain adoption. Throughout the discussion, he reaffirmed his commitment to Concordium’s long-term vision of building a scalable, compliant, and enterprise-ready blockchain for the future economy. ^[4]

Presentations

Tackling AI Fraud

At Nordic Fintech Week 2024 in September, Christensen addressed the emerging challenge of trust deterioration in the digital age, emphasizing how the internet and rapid AI development had compromised our ability to reliably verify information and identities. He explained that criminals quickly adopted AI tools to scale fraud, making scams increasingly convincing and difficult to trace because they can operate anonymously. Christensen highlighted the importance of advanced ID verification technologies, such as Denmark's Mid ID and electronic IDs, which help users securely confirm their identities. He emphasized that protecting trust requires not only regulatory frameworks but also educating users to actively seek verification. Seier showcased a practical solution called NetID, built on blockchain technology, which provides immutable proofs of website ownership and digital content authenticity. In conclusion, he stressed the need for widespread adoption of such verification solutions to rebuild trust online and encouraged attendees to learn more about innovative identity verification methods to combat AI-driven fraud effectively. ^[7]

Introducing Concordium

At the IMB Blockchain Accelerator Launch Program Demo Day in May 2019, Christensen, co-founder of Saxo Bank, shared his insights on blockchain technology during his visit to Columbia University. He reflected on his early experiences with online trading platforms in the 1990s, emphasizing parallels with today’s blockchain space and highlighting the skepticism and slow adoption that eventually led to widespread use. Christensen expressed his interest in cryptocurrencies due to their resemblance to traditional fiat currencies and libertarian principles, but stressed the importance of scientific rigor and regulation for mainstream acceptance. He discussed the ongoing transition from anarchistic blockchain projects to regulated frameworks, emphasizing technical challenges such as privacy, scalability, energy efficiency, and governance. Christensen highlighted the importance of education in dispelling misconceptions and fostering broader adoption, especially among traditional businesses and CEOs, noting that the current blockchain landscape was still in its early stages. He pointed out the vast business potential, including reducing trust costs, eliminating single points of failure, and enabling peer-to-peer transactions, which could significantly impact the global economy. Drawing lessons from the internet era, he urged patience and focus on building robust infrastructure before rushing to market, emphasizing that blockchain’s true revolution might extend beyond information to reshape various industries and societal structures. Finally, Christensen congratulated participants on their science-based approach and the exciting prospects ahead in the evolving blockchain ecosystem. ^[5]