Notional
New York City, US · Founded 2020 · 8 known investors
Ethereum-based DeFi protocol for borrowing and lending crypto assets at fixed rates and fixed terms.
Also known as Notional · Notional Finance · Notional Finance Inc
Founders & leadership
Notional was founded in 2020 by Jeff Wu and Teddy Woodward.
Investors · 8
Also in the syndicate · 1
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$11.4M disclosed across 2 of 4 rounds · 2021
▶$86.7KraisedJul 2021 · 50 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Diana MunozExecutive Officer, Director
- Omar CamargoExecutive Officer, Director
- Persis Manfred SarmientoExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $109.4K
- Amount sold
- $86.7K
- First sale
- Jun 2021
- Incorporated
- Other, Panama, 2021
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$11.3MraisedApr 2021 · 26 investors · OtherRule 506(b)
- Jeffrey WuDirector
- Theodore WoodwardExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $11.3M
- Amount sold
- $11.3M
- First sale
- Apr 2021
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2020
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Notional (Notional Finance) is a decentralized, Ethereum-based protocol for borrowing and lending at fixed rates and fixed terms. The company positions fixed-rate, fixed-term credit as a missing primitive in DeFi, arguing that variable-rate lending markets such as Aave cannot serve borrowers and lenders that require certainty about future interest costs, citing episodes in which 'stable rate' borrow costs spiked above 100%.
The protocol launched a second version, Notional V2, on 1 November 2021, following a delay from an earlier target date so that auditors could review code changes. V2 was built around three stated priorities: security (three independent audits by ABDK Consulting, Certora and Code Arena, plus an OpenZeppelin audit of the governance contracts, and a $1,000,000 top bug bounty via Immunefi), liquidity (a liquidity mining program allocating 50% of total NOTE token supply to liquidity incentives, with 20% to be distributed in the first year), and capital efficiency (collateral used for lending or liquidity provision can simultaneously back borrowing). V2 introduced the NOTE governance token.
Subsequent company updates describe continued protocol development, including leveraged vaults — reported as driving 55% of loan volume in January 2023 — community programs via Layer3/Crew3, work toward a V3 release, and a proposed Index Coop $MMI integration.
Business model
Notional operates an onchain lending and borrowing protocol on Ethereum where users lend at fixed rates, borrow against collateral, or provide liquidity to fixed-rate markets. Governance is exercised through the NOTE token, a portion of whose supply is allocated to liquidity incentives.
Traction
Within the first days of the V2 launch in November 2021 the protocol reported $117.2 million in value and cumulative loan volume above $22.5 million. Later company updates report TVL of $54,527,249 as of February 2023, and leveraged vaults accounting for 55% of loan volume in January 2023.
Latest developments
Company monthly updates through March 2023 report V3 audit progress, community growth campaigns, an Index Coop $MMI integration proposal, February 2023 TVL of $54.5 million, and leveraged vaults driving a majority of loan volume in January 2023.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Describes itself as the first decentralized, Ethereum-based protocol for borrowing and lending at fixed rates and fixed terms, and was cited by CryptoRank among the top 10 projects by TVL growth over a seven-day period in November 2021.
Fixed rates and fixed terms rather than variable-rate lending; capital efficiency allowing collateral to earn while being borrowed against; heavy emphasis on multiple independent audits and a large bug bounty.
Technology
Smart contracts on Ethereum implementing fixed-rate, fixed-term lending markets. Notional V2 emphasized capital efficiency, allowing collateral deposited for lending or liquidity provision to also serve as borrowing collateral without forgoing returns. Later development included leveraged vaults and a V3 version under audit as of early 2023. Security work included audits by ABDK Consulting, Certora, Code Arena (an audit contest with a 150,000 USDC plus 50,000 NOTE prize pool) and OpenZeppelin for governance contracts, alongside an ongoing Immunefi bug bounty with a $1,000,000 maximum payout.
Go-to-market
Direct-to-user protocol distribution supported by liquidity mining incentives, a Discord community, a newsletter and monthly public updates, NFT rewards for early liquidity providers, community merch and quest campaigns (Layer3/Crew3), and integration proposals with other DeFi projects such as Index Coop.
Individual investors, business owners and institutional investors seeking predictable borrowing and lending rates in crypto markets, plus liquidity providers.
History
Notional launched its V1 protocol and, after a testnet on Kovan and a short delay announced in September 2021, released Notional V2 with the NOTE governance token on 1 November 2021. The company publishes monthly protocol updates, with editions continuing into 2023 covering leveraged vaults and V3 development.
Risks & controversies
The company delayed its V2 launch to allow auditors to review code changes after audits found a small number of critical issues; a Code Arena finding was noted as potentially relevant to Notional V1 though the company stated it was not exploitable in practice. A July 2022 post addresses protocol performance during extreme market volatility.
Compiled by commissioned research from 9 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 14
launches, deals, and filingsNotional announced that Notional V3 was live in beta on Arbitrum, extending the protocol to a layer-2 network.
Notional received an additional $37.5k in grants from the Balancer team to cover audit costs associated with an upcoming Bal/Aura stablecoin strategy leveraged vault.
$37.5K source ↗
Notional Finance introduced Leveraged Vaults, allowing traders to borrow cash at a fixed rate from Notional and deploy it into a whitelisted smart contract executing a specific yield strategy.
Notional launched the Notional Blitz bounty encouraging web3 data analysts to explore data, trends and correlations in the fixed rate market.
Notional launched an ongoing bug bounty with Immunefi, with a top reward of $1,000,000 for critical issues.
$1M source ↗
Notional partnered with artist gluckarte on a three-tier NFT series distributed to early liquidity providers, including 250 silver-tier NFTs.
Notional relaunched its protocol as V2 on 1 November 2021, adding new features, a liquidity mining program and the NOTE governance token.
Notional sponsored a Code 423n4 (Code Arena) audit contest with a prize pool of 150,000 USDC plus 50,000 NOTE; results and a $200k prize pool distribution were announced in September 2021.
The company pushed back the V2 launch to give auditors time to review codebase changes made in response to September audit results; the V2 testnet went live on Kovan on 29 September 2021.
Notional Finance announced the close of a $10M Series A funding round from institutional investors, led by Pantera Capital with participation from ParaFi Capital, 1Confirmation, Spartan Group, Nascent, Nima Capital and others. Proceeds were earmarked for team building and development of Notional V2.
$10M source ↗
The fixed-rate borrowing and lending protocol launched in mid-January 2021.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 9
primary sources listed
- Notional Defi Fixed Rates Monthly Update October '21blog.notional.finance · web
- Notional Company Overview, Contact Details & Competitors | LeadIQleadiq.com · web
9 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Notional do?
- Ethereum-based DeFi protocol for borrowing and lending crypto assets at fixed rates and fixed terms.
- Who founded Notional?
- Notional was founded by Jeff Wu, Teddy Woodward in 2020.
- Who are Notional's investors?
- Notional's investors include 1confirmation, Alliance DAO (ex DeFi Alliance), Coinbase Ventures, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Nascent, Pantera Capital, ParaFi Capital.
- How much funding has Notional raised?
- Notional has disclosed $11.4M raised across 2 of its 4 known rounds.
- Where is Notional headquartered?
- Notional is headquartered in New York City, US.