Case note · Forward Industries / Galaxy

Forward Industries / Galaxy: a 0.6% discretionary management mandate with a defined three-year term.

Forward Industries' agreement with Galaxy Digital Capital Management is a useful same-role comparator for digital asset treasury management economics: a disclosed discretionary mandate, a 0.6% annual AUM fee, expense reimbursement and a three-year initial term.

Agreement snapshot

FieldPublicly disclosed term
Effective dateSeptember 10, 2025
ProviderGalaxy Digital Capital Management LP
RoleDiscretionary investment management over broadly defined Treasury Assets, subject to stated carve-outs
CustodyGalaxy was disclosed as not authorized to act as custodian or take title to the assets
Management fee0.60% per year of the value of managed account assets
ExpensesReasonable documented account-operating expenses reimbursable by the company under the disclosed arrangement
Initial termThree years from September 2025
RenewalSuccessive one-year periods unless either party gives at least 90 days' written notice of non-renewal

Role normalization makes this comparator useful

The filed agreement describes discretionary investment management of cash, cash equivalents, stablecoins, cryptocurrency and other investible assets, while excluding specified asset categories. That makes the mandate materially different from a narrow strategic-advisory engagement or a software / custody-only relationship.

For fee benchmarking, that role definition matters as much as the 0.6% rate. A percentage can only be compared cleanly after scope, authority and denominator are normalized.

The latest filings confirm the agreement remained economically live

Forward's 2026 filings continued to describe the Galaxy agreement. The company's proxy statement disclosed approximately $2.23 million of management fees through December 31, 2025, and a June 30, 2026 quarterly filing disclosed $133,000 due to Galaxy under the agreement at that date.

Currentness implication: the original contract establishes the terms; later filings establish whether the relationship and accrued economics remain current.

Why this belongs in a same-role fee set

The Forward / Galaxy record is useful because it combines a clear discretionary role, a disclosed annual AUM rate, a bounded initial term and later-period expense evidence. It can therefore serve as a cleaner same-role comparator than strategic-advisory or financing-linked arrangements whose economics are primarily warrant-based or embedded in a broader transaction.

What this case contributes to a DAT provider benchmark

It shows the value of separating manager role, custody role, fee basis, expense pass-throughs, term and renewal mechanics. It also provides a public anchor for testing whether a proposed management fee is being compared against genuinely similar provider authority.

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Public-source factual commercial research only. No legal, fairness, fiduciary or investment opinion, and no recommendation concerning any provider or transaction.

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