Galaxy Digital invests in Digital Prime to enhance crypto lending standards

Galaxy Digital has put money behind its conviction that crypto lending needs to grow up. The NASDAQ-listed firm announced a strategic investment in Digital Prime Technologies on June 23, aimed at building institutional-grade infrastructure for digital asset lending.

The investment deepens an existing relationship. Galaxy was an inaugural participant on Digital Prime’s Tokenet platform, which launched on May 14. Now it’s backing the company financially, though neither party disclosed the size of the deal.

What Tokenet actually does

Tokenet is an attempt to import established securities lending practices into the digital asset world. The platform, developed in collaboration with EquiLend, a major player in traditional securities finance, focuses on three pillars: standardized workflows, institutional-grade risk controls, and transparency across the lending lifecycle.

Max Bareiss, Head of Lending at Galaxy Digital, has been vocal about what he sees as the core problem. The gap between traditional operational standards and the tools currently available in digital asset markets is wide enough to keep many institutional players on the sidelines. Tokenet is designed to close that gap.

Why this matters beyond one deal

The crypto lending sector carries some heavy baggage. The collapses of Genesis, BlockFi, Celsius, and Voyager in 2022 wiped out billions in customer funds and left institutional investors deeply skeptical of the entire category. Those failures weren’t caused by the concept of crypto lending itself. They were caused by poor risk management, insufficient transparency, and a general absence of the guardrails that traditional finance takes for granted.

EquiLend’s involvement adds another layer of credibility. The firm has been a cornerstone of traditional securities lending infrastructure for over two decades. Its collaboration with Digital Prime suggests that established financial technology providers see digital asset lending as a genuine growth market, not a novelty.

What investors should watch

For Galaxy Digital specifically, the investment fits a clear strategic pattern. The firm has been building out its institutional services division, and lending is one of the highest-margin businesses in finance. Owning a stake in the infrastructure that powers that lending creates a vertically integrated business model. Galaxy both uses the platform and benefits financially from its growth.

The absence of disclosed financial terms makes it hard to gauge Galaxy’s level of conviction in dollar terms. But the signal is the investment itself, not its size. When a publicly traded, NASDAQ-listed firm makes a strategic investment in lending infrastructure built on traditional finance standards, it tells you something about where the institutional crypto market is heading.

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