Manuel Lains
CEO & Co-Founder
Manuel is the co-founder of two of the largest and most prominent blockchain companies in Norway, BitGate and BitSpace. He holds a M.Sc in Electronics from the University of Oslo, and is an experienced developer.
Christian Lains
Chief Strategist & Co-Founder
Christian is the Co-Founder of both BitSpace and BitGate, and has been a key figure in the blockchain community since 2013. He graduated from the University of Oslo with a masters degree in Philosophy.
Ivar Duserud
Chief Financial Officer
Ivar is the CFO at BitGate and BitSpace. He has studied economics at Connecticut State University, and has been involved with blockchain and cryptocurrencies since 2014. He is a talented executive managing day-to-day activities and planning at BitGate and BitSpace.
Olav Småriset
Head of Innovation & Partner
Olav is a successful entrepreneur with an academic background in electronics and programming. He is driven to create businesses and platforms that easily allow people to utilise cryptocurrency and blockchain technology
Frederic Lhote
Lead Developer & Partner
Frederic has been a computer and gaming enthusiast since he was 6 years old, and is a former data engineering student. He is interested in 3D modeling/printing, alternative nuclear power and computer security and favors software that is open source. His life approach is rational and uncompromising, which is reflected in his work.
Karin Sooväli
Administrative Manager & Partner
Karin has a Master’s degree in Geographical studies from the University of Oslo, as well as a background in language and history studies from Estonia and Turkey. Her current accounting and auditing studies at BI in Oslo, synergize well with her role in BitSpace.
Ola Haukland
CEO of BitSpace Poland & Partner
With a keen interest in philosophy and the Austrian School of Economics, Ola decided to quit his job as a high-school teacher in 2017 to join BitSpace as a content creator and get behind the adoption of non-central bank money. Now Ola is leading BitSpace’ efforts in Poland, with the goal of building a team of developers in the city of Kraków. Ola is a true renaissance man with passions ranging from music, comedy, sports, e-commerce, to bio-hacking.
Jørn Baltzersen
Developer
Jørn is passionate about shaping a freedom-friendly future, where cryptocurrencies and decentralized blockchain technology are wonderful enablers as an alternative to today’s mainstream centralization paradigm. He is an experienced software developer with an M.Sc. in Computer Science from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim.
Raymond Øverlie
Investment Strategist & Partner
Raymond has 20+ years of experience from the financial markets and as an investor he has been founding partner of several startups. Through his work he has earned a unique experience in different fields as Partner, Chairman, board member, FX, stocks and derivatives trader, CEO and CFO. He has a background from the Norwegian School of Economics and Harvard Business School.
Advisory Board
Lars Hektoen
Founder of Cultura Bank
Lars Hektoen has a background from economics and business administration. He went on to become a manager at Chase Manhattan Bank and President at ABB Financial Services AS, before finally founding Cultura Bank, recently crowned the most Ethical Bank in Norway.
Ben Goertzel
CEO & Founder SingularityNET
Ben Goertzel is the founder and CEO of SingularityNET, a blockchain-based AI marketplace. Ben is also the chief scientist of financial prediction firm Aidyia Holdings and Chairman of the Artificial General Intelligence Society and the OpenCog Foundation He was the Chief Scientist of Hanson Robotics, the company that created the humanoid robot Sophia, until early 2019.
Lasse Meholm
Finansit AS
Lasse has worked in the finance and securities market since 1986. FinanceCube was sold in 2012, and since 2013, Lasse has been working in banks, within IT strategy, digital banking, Blockchain and Fintech companies as the area of work. Lasse is now CEO and founder of Finansit, a consulting company focusing on Blockchain/DLT strategy, Fintech/startups and a frequently used keynote speaker.
Camilla Wollan
DLA Piper
Camilla Wollan is a DLA Piper Partner in the Finance and Projects Department. She specializes in financial law and has worked for numerous banks. Camilla is active in the Fintech and blockchain space .
David Frew
WhiteBridge
With over 25 years of international sales and business development experience with proven results, David is passionate about sales skills, sales excellence, and helping others achieve their sales-related goals: increasing revenue, more quickly, more profitably. David began coaching and mentoring in the early 2000s.
Robert Viglione
Horizen (Formerly ZenCash)
Rob is the Co-founder of Horizen and a former physicist and mathematician with experience working on Bitshares, BlockPay, Zclassic, Seasteading, and BitGate. He’s currently a PhD Candidate in Finance researching cryptofinance and teaching “Bitcoin & Blockchain Applications in Finance.”
