Max Bareiss, Head of Lending at Galaxy Digital, states that decentralized finance is designed for agentic trading, where AI software autonomously borrows, trades, and repays assets onchain. Unlike traditional finance, which relies on human intervention and business hours, DeFi protocols operate continuously using pre-set liquidation thresholds and onchain liquidity.
Galaxy Digital has utilized the Aave protocol since at least September 2025 to borrow stablecoins against Bitcoin and Ethereum collateral. This integration supports the firm's treasury, trading, and structured product operations, providing round-the-clock liquidity access while reducing reliance on traditional intermediaries.
The firm is expanding its onchain presence through several initiatives. On November 5, 2026, Galaxy launched the Galaxy Onchain Financing Rate (GOFR), which aggregates borrowing rates from Aave, Morpho, and Spark. Additionally, on November 6, 2026, the company announced a $100 million allocation into the Sky ecosystem.
Galaxy Digital also provides institutional clients with first-loss capital protection and execution services for onchain money markets. While DeFi offers programmable leverage and atomic settlement, Bareiss notes that automated agents rely heavily on their programmed parameters, and liquidation thresholds can act as an accelerant during market volatility.
