The Danish Ice Hockey Union (DIU) has appointed Concordium as the official AI partner for the Danish national team, with the collaboration set to begin during the 2026 IIHF World Championships in Switzerland.
The partnership centers around two core initiatives built on Concordium’s AI infrastructure. The first is the Verified Fans Program, which will pilot a privacy-focused fan engagement model using zero-knowledge proofs. The second is an Agent Commerce Initiative designed to demonstrate how certified AI agents can work at scale to facilitate fan interactions and transactions.
This collaboration builds on Concordium’s ongoing development work in the field of AI-based payments, including its participation in the x402 proxy payments protocol.
“Agents transacting at scale need a verified identity they can carry and settlement bars they can trust,” said Varun Kabra, chief growth officer at Concordium. “The infrastructure for this is already in place. What it has lacked is clarity, a place where key fans can see it working. We are very excited to partner with the Danish ice hockey team to build together a solution where AI can deliver a superior fan experience.”
According to DIU CEO Michael DuPont, the agreement focuses on practical collaboration rather than branding alone.
“We approached this in the same way we approach every serious collaboration, starting with what we can build together, not what we will put on a jersey,” said Michael Dupont, CEO of the Danmarks Ishockey Union. “Concordium is an AI infrastructure built in Switzerland and from an organizational level. The programs planned over the course of the partnership are the kind of work that fits the way Danish hockey wants to be seen.”
As part of the agreement, Concordium’s branding will appear on the Danish national team’s helmets and jerseys, with exclusive rights in the digital asset class for the duration of the partnership. The partnership fee was settled in CCD, Concordium’s native token, representing the first example of a fully paid national team agreement locked in a native protocol asset. The transaction was executed on-chain upon signing, with a 12-month protocol-wide lock imposed and held in DIU’s self-custody.
The Danish national team’s matches at the 2026 IIHF World Championship will be broadcast across multiple markets, including Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and the United States, through networks such as Viaplay, ZDF, ARD, TSN and ESPN. The 2025 tournament recorded a cumulative live TV audience of 215 million, along with 25.6 billion event impressions across 155 territories.
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