Gisli Kristjansson is an Icelandic entrepreneur, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Monerium, a company that issues regulated e-money on public blockchains. ​​With a background in mathematics and traditional finance, he transitioned into software development and became an early participant in the blockchain industry. Kristjansson is a founding board member of the Icelandic Blockchain Foundation and a frequent public speaker on topics including regulated stablecoins, on-chain payment infrastructure, and the European digital asset landscape. ^[2]

Education

Kristjansson graduated from Haskoli Islands with a BSc in Mathematics in 2006. ^[1]

Career

Kristjansson began his career as a consultant at Capacent from 2006 to 2007, before moving into brokerage at H.F. Securities between 2008 and 2010, where he worked in fixed-income sales and coordinated new issuances. In 2011, he founded Appvise, a software-focused venture he later co-founded alongside Hjortur Hjartarson. He became a co-founder of Monerium in 2015, taking part in the company’s early development and industry engagement, including work related to blockchain initiatives in Iceland. In 2024, he moved into the role of Chief Executive Officer at Monerium, where he continues to lead the organization. ^{[1] [3]}

Interviews

Monerium

In an October 2025 episode of the Stable School Podcast, Kristjánsson discussed Monerium’s work as the issuer of the eURE stablecoin and outlined its approach to providing regulated, fiat-backed digital currency. He described the company’s early focus on securing e-money licensing for issuance on public blockchains, emphasizing the role of legal expertise and the broader impact of the EU’s MiCA framework, which emerged after initiatives such as Libra. Kristjánsson compared eURE with other stablecoins, such as USDC, noting its compliance with MiCA and its on

• and off-ramping mechanisms via Web3 IBANs. He spoke about shifting use cases, including payouts from other stablecoins and integrations with services such as Gnosis Pay and MetaMask Card. The conversation also covered market challenges, particularly limited liquidity for euro-denominated assets in a USD-dominated stablecoin landscape, as well as ongoing debates around the need for a wider range of currencies. He concluded by outlining Monerium’s priorities, including improving liquidity, expanding trading activity, and enabling yield opportunities for eURE in DeFi. ^[6]

Presentations

On-chain Payment Infrastructure

At EthCC8 in July 2025, Kristjánsson outlined the growing significance of stablecoins in fintech and described his aim to build on-chain payment infrastructure suited to Europe’s needs. He explained the challenges created by the dominance of USD stablecoins, noting that European businesses often incur conversion costs and FX risks, and emphasized that issuing a euro-denominated token alone does not address the underlying banking and usability constraints. Kristjánsson reviewed the main categories of stablecoins and pointed to earlier failures, such as Terra Luna, as examples of why design and regulation matter. He described Monerium’s development as a regulated electronic money issuer authorized to issue stablecoins on public blockchains. He highlighted its use of IBAN-linked wallet accounts to enable direct conversions between euros and on-chain assets. He noted rising user activity on the platform and described efforts to expand liquidity through collaborations with DeFi projects. Kristjánsson also discussed potential future developments such as stablecoin-based card payments with yield features, expressed doubt about the likelihood of an official digital euro, and commented on the regulatory barriers that make non-custodial, non-KYC payment cards improbable. ^[5]

Onchain Fiat Keynote

At EthCC7 in July 2024, Kristjánsson outlined his view of DeFi as an early-stage system with the potential to reshape global finance, contrasting the trillions held in traditional bank accounts with the comparatively small amount held on-chain. He compared DeFi’s development to the early days of streaming media, arguing that adoption depends on both technical infrastructure and the availability of real-world assets. Kristjánsson described Monerium’s work to bring traditional financial assets on-chain in a regulated and transferable form, beginning with its euro-denominated token and expanding through integrations with builders in the DeFi ecosystem. He noted the company’s transaction volume since launch, discussed plans for additional tokens and an on-chain FX mechanism, and closed by encouraging continued collaboration from developers and participants in the space. ^[7]

Panels

New Financial Rails

At the European Blockchain Convention in November 2025, Kristjánsson joined Stéphane Blemus (White & Case), Paul Worthington (Stripe), Alexandra Soroko (Visa), Dorothea Ysenburg (Mastercard), and Avner Primor (Clarity Global) for a panel examining trends and challenges in payments as digital assets become more integrated into financial services. The discussion covered efforts by companies like Mastercard to connect fiat and digital assets through wallet-linked payment cards, Stripe’s early growth in stablecoin payment volume, and the operational and regulatory hurdles that continue to shape cross-border payments. Panelists emphasized the need for clear regulatory frameworks to support stablecoin adoption, projected that stablecoins may expand into credit and lending functions, and highlighted interoperability between issuers and banks as a core requirement for future systems. They also agreed that broader adoption depends on improving the user experience, building accessible applications, and ensuring that both merchants and consumers can transition smoothly into more programmable, interconnected financial environments. ^[8]