Hugo Leijtens
Speaker on Crypto, AI and Financial Crime
Hugo Leijtens speaks about the technologies transforming finance and the new risks, responsibilities, and opportunities they create.
As co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Cense, Hugo works at the intersection of digital assets, artificial intelligence, financial crime, and regulation. He translates complex developments into clear, thought-provoking stories for audiences in financial services, government, law enforcement, and technology.
His talks combine strategic vision with practical experience: from building technology companies and developing crypto-compliance infrastructure to working alongside public-sector organizations investigating criminal money flows.
Hugo is available for conferences, executive sessions, panels, seminars, and private events worldwide.
About Hugo
Hugo Leijtens is a technology entrepreneur, strategist and specialist in crypto-enabled financial crime.
After starting his career at Microsoft, he moved to China, where he spent six years building technology ventures. He subsequently worked on blockchain and digital banking initiatives, including the development of one of Nigeria’s largest digital banking platforms and leading Payments and Crypto at a large German neo-broker.
Today, Hugo is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Cense, a Swiss regtech company building crypto-compliance infrastructure for banks and other regulated financial institutions. Cense helps institutions understand the origin, ownership, and risks of digital assets by combining blockchain activity, exchange data and financial-crime intelligence.
Alongside his work at Cense, Hugo supports Dutch public-sector organizations as an external expert on crypto, artificial intelligence and criminal money flows. This gives him an unusual perspective: he understands the technology, the regulated financial system and the way digital assets are used in real-world financial crime.
Hugo does more than explain what is changing. He helps audiences understand what those changes mean and what organizations should do next.
Speaking topics
Crypto is becoming
part of the financial system.
Is compliance ready?
Digital assets are moving into private banking, wealth management, payments and capital markets. Hugo explains why traditional AML controls struggle with crypto wealth, how institutions can move beyond blanket rejection and what proportionate, evidence-based crypto compliance looks like.
Organized Crime on the blockchain
Blockchain technology creates new opportunities for financial crime—but also unprecedented transparency. Drawing on practical investigative experience, Hugo shows how blockchain data, exchange information and open-source intelligence can be combined to reconstruct complex money flows.
AI agents will transform compliance
AI will not simply make existing compliance processes faster. It will change how intelligence is collected, analyzed and documented. Hugo explores where AI agents can create real value, where deterministic controls remain essential and how regulated institutions can deploy AI without sacrificing accountability.
Sanctions evasion on the blockchain
Can states, criminal networks and sanctioned organizations use blockchain infrastructure to bypass the international financial system? Hugo examines emerging stablecoins, cross-border settlement networks and the tension between financial sovereignty, sanctions evasion and on-chain transparency.
From de-risking to proportionate crypto controls
Many financial institutions still treat crypto exposure as a binary risk. Hugo presents a more mature approach: detecting exposure early, increasing scrutiny proportionately and reserving intensive investigations for cases that genuinely require them.
The convergence of OSINT, AI, crypto and financial crime
AI and digital assets are developing simultaneously, and increasingly interacting. Hugo explores what this convergence means for banks, regulators, investigators, and society, including both the emerging threats and the tools available to address them.
For different audiences
Every presentation is adapted to the audience and purpose of the event.
Hugo regularly speaks to:
- Banking and financial-services executives
- Compliance and financial-crime professionals
- Regulators and policymakers
- Police and public-sector investigators
- Technology and AI teams
- Entrepreneurs and innovation leaders
Formats include keynote presentations, executive briefings, panel discussions, masterclasses, workshops and private strategy sessions.
A speaker who connects different worlds
Hugo combines experience that is rarely found in a single speaker:
- Technology entrepreneurship in Europe, China and Africa
- Hands-on knowledge of blockchain and digital assets
- Development of compliance infrastructure for regulated institutions
- Practical involvement in the investigation of crypto-enabled criminal money flows
- Strategic understanding of AI and agentic technology
- The ability to make technically complex subjects understandable without oversimplifying them
His style is direct, energetic and analytical. Audiences leave with a clearer understanding of what is happening, why it matters and how they can respond.
Language and availability
Hugo speaks fluently in English and Dutch.
He is available internationally for in-person and remote engagements, including conferences, seminars, boardroom sessions and private events.
