Tobias is a seasoned entrepreneur who has founded and successfully exited two web2 technology companies. He entered the crypto space in 2017 and has been working full-time in decentralised finance since the “DeFi Summer” of 2020. Tobias co-founded Altitude to solve a problem he experienced firsthand: the inefficiencies of collateralised lending. During DeFi Summer, he was an active borrower on platforms like Compound and Aave, deploying borrowed funds into Curve and other yield strategies. But the persistent trade-off between capital efficiency and risk proved frustrating. Altitude was born out of that challenge: a solution built to optimise the lending mechanics he once wrestled with.
How did your experience in web2 shape your approach to DeFi?
Coming into crypto, we brought a strong product mindset from our time building web2 companies. Our focus was always on creating products with a great user experience. This means solving real user problems first, rather than trying to invent new technical primitives and worrying about usability later.
Web2 also taught us to think long-term. We knew meaningful products take years to develop and mature. So we’ve brought that same approach to DeFi: committing to patient, iterative building with the end user in mind.
How does Altitude automate loan refinancing and manage idle capital?
Altitude functions like a “liability optimiser” for DeFi users. Rather than requiring borrowers to manually shift positions to get better rates, the protocol monitors markets and refinances loans when better options become available, similar to how a trade aggregator works.
Smart contracts assess when a borrow position can be moved to a more favourable rate on supported platforms like Aave or Compound, then execute the refinance without user input. This allows Altitude to act as an automated debt manager, reducing user friction and improving capital efficiency.
The protocol also monitors idle liquidity — capital not actively deployed in loans or refinancing. When such liquidity is available, Altitude automatically puts it to work based on pre-set parameters tied to risk, yield, and liquidity needs. This ensures the treasury remains productive without affecting its core function.
What are the trade-offs of auto-refinancing across protocols like Aave and Morpho?
The biggest benefit is capital efficiency. By constantly scanning for better rates across protocols like Aave and Morpho, users can lower their borrowing costs without lifting a finger.
It’s about making debt more dynamic—moving it to where the terms are most favourable, whether that means lower variable rates, extra rewards, or more efficient liquidity.
But there are trade-offs. Auto-refinancing brings operational complexity and requires clear risk controls. That’s why we only refinance when the net benefit — after gas costs, slippage, and risk — is clearly positive. The system is designed to be conservative and selective.
We don’t chase every opportunity. There are built-in thresholds and buffers to ensure that each move is both safe and economically worthwhile.
Ultimately, it’s about trustless optimisation — letting code make better borrowing decisions, safely and at scale.
Can you describe a scenario where Altitude adjusts a user’s loan-to-value ratio?
A user might start with a low 20% loan-to-value ratio. Altitude could then increase it to 60% by using the user’s unused borrowing capacity to farm yield.
If ETH drops 10%, the LTV naturally increases. To maintain the 60% target, Altitude automatically reduces the borrowed amount by unwinding part of the farming position. This adjustment keeps the LTV in line, all without any user intervention.
So, instead of preventing liquidation by injecting more capital, Altitude manages the position size dynamically, reallocating capital that was being farmed to stay within safe risk parameters. The goal is to maximise efficiency while staying within a predefined risk band.
How does your ingress control system protect users during volatility?
Our smart contracts have built-in functions to pause the protocol and rate-limit outflows of funds. Both functions protect the user in case of hacks or exploits.
Why is the ALTI token non-transferable, and how does that affect governance?
We followed the original DeFi playbook: rewarding early contributors with actual tokens, not just points. Points systems can obscure incentives or misalign teams and communities. We wanted to be upfront—ALTI is the core asset and will be distributed accordingly.
That said, ALTI will be non-transferable at launch, and governance won’t be live immediately either. So the lack of transferability doesn’t affect participation in the short term. As the protocol matures, we’ll introduce governance gradually and move toward decentralisation.
We believe in decentralisation, but also in responsible management during the early stages. Starting with structure and clarity gives us the foundation to grow into a community-owned system without sacrificing stability.
What does “capital efficiency” mean to Altitude?
Capital efficiency means doing more with less. It’s about ensuring that every dollar, whether borrowed, lent, or idle, is being put to work.
Traditionally, DeFi has relied on overcollateralisation, idle liquidity, and manual optimisation. That’s inefficient. Capital efficiency turns that on its head by minimising idle assets, automating optimisation, and unlocking more value from user funds, without compromising safety.
For Altitude, capital efficiency means two things: dynamic debt management, where loans are refinanced in real time to secure better rates or reduce risk; and smart liquidity deployment, where idle funds are put to work when they’re not needed for core functions like repayments or loan backstops.
The most effective protocols will strike a balance between automation, yield, and risk. That’s the layer we’re focused on building.