What Exactly does

Exactly is a decentralized, non-custodial, open-source DeFi protocol founded in 2021 (originally as Exactly Finance) and incorporated as Exa Labs SAS in the British Virgin Islands, with operational presence in Montevideo, Uruguay. The protocol provides autonomous fixed and variable interest rate markets on the OP Mainnet blockchain, addressing the absence of fixed-income primitives in decentralized finance. Users access the protocol permissionlessly through the web application at app.exact.ly by connecting a cryptocurrency wallet, with no KYC required and geographic restrictions limited to OFAC-style sanctioned jurisdictions.

The core technology is a novel interest rate model expressed as a continuous, differentiable function R(U) = A/(Umax - U) + B with three regimes (normal, leveraged, unreachable), paired with proprietary Dynamic Close Factor liquidations, risk-adjusted collateral factors, and Dynamic Utilization Rate allocation between Variable and Fixed Rate Pools. Deposits in the Variable Rate Pool are tokenized as exaVouchers under the ERC-4626 standard, making them composable with other DeFi protocols; price feeds are sourced from Chainlink (including custom PriceFeedDouble and PriceFeedWrapper contracts) and on-chain data is indexed via The Graph. The protocol has been audited by ChainSafe, Coinspect, ABDK, and Cryptecon, monitored by Hypernative, and offers a bug bounty on Immunefi.

Monetization is indirect: Exactly charges no direct user fees and the app is free to access; protocol revenue is generated via treasury fees on borrows, reserve factor yield, penalty rates on overdue fixed-rate repayments, and treasury fees distributed to EXA token stakers through the stEXA program. The go-to-market is product-led and community-driven (Discord, Telegram, Twitter, GitHub, Medium) targeting DeFi users seeking fixed-income exposure, DeFi investors and DAOs seeking predictable yields, and — via the Exa App sub-product — fintechs, banks, and exchanges looking to embed credit functionality. Total disclosed funding is approximately $7M across three rounds (Aug 2021 $3M seed led by Kaszek, Jan 2023 $2M led by Daedalus Angel Syndicate, Feb 2025 $2M led by Uphold), and the company is led by co-founder and CEO Gabriel Gruber and co-founder/COO Patricio Molina.

Name

Exactly

Legal name

EXACTLY.

Website

https://exact.ly

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Exactly is a decentralized, non-custodial DeFi protocol on OP Mainnet that provides fixed and variable interest rate lending and borrowing markets for crypto users, DAOs, and — via the Exa App — fintechs and exchanges seeking embeddable credit infrastructure.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Protocol

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221)

akta.pro primary industry

Decentralized Lending Protocols (DeFi Money Markets) (FSADAFAB)

Keywords

• Decentralized lending protocol
• Fixed rate markets
• Variable interest rates
• DeFi credit market
• Non-custodial protocol

Headquarters

HQ city

Montevideo

HQ country

Uruguay

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Treasury Fee on Borrows: The protocol charges a treasury fee rate on both floating and fixed borrows. The treasury address receives allocated earnings from borrow transactions. Additionally, a backup fee rate is charged to the fixed pool and retained by the floating pool for initially providing liquidity.
2. Reserve Factor: A percentage factor represents liquidity reserves that cannot be borrowed. This reserve factor generates earnings for the protocol treasury from the interest accrued on reserved portions of deposits.
3. Penalty Rates: A penalty rate per second is charged to borrowers with delayed fixed pool repayments after maturity. These penalties contribute to protocol revenue.
4. Treasury Fees from Staking Program: The EXA Staking Program enables EXA token holders to get treasury fees. The stEXA staking mechanism distributes a portion of protocol treasury fees to EXA token stakers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Exactly Protocol is a decentralized, non-custodial, open-source DeFi protocol on OP Mainnet that enables users to lend and borrow digital assets with either fixed or variable interest rates. It provides a credit market where users can earn yield on deposits, take out fixed-rate loans, or borrow variable-rate loans against crypto collateral, utilizing the ERC-4626 tokenized vault standard and Chainlink price feeds for oracle data.

Product overview

Exactly Protocol is a decentralized, non-custodial credit protocol on OP Mainnet that provides fixed and variable interest rate markets. The core offering consists of the Exactly Protocol platform supporting Variable Rate Pools and Fixed Rate Pools, complemented by the Exa App interface. The product suite includes the EXA governance token, the esEXA escrowed token, the stEXA staking program, and exaVouchers (ERC-4626 tokenized vault tokens) representing user deposits. The protocol enables users to lend and borrow at both fixed and variable rates through a continuous interest rate model based on credit utilization rates.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Exa App: The Exa App is a product of Exactly Protocol that enables on-chain credit, debit, and lending functionality. It is a fintech application that can be integrated into platforms by fintechs, banks, and exchanges.
• EXA
• esEXA

Products and services

• Exactly Protocol A decentralized, non-custodial, open-source DeFi protocol on OP Mainnet that enables users to lend and borrow digital assets with either fixed or variable interest rates. Designed for individual DeFi users, DAOs, and institutional integrators seeking transparent, on-chain credit markets.
• Variable Rate Pool Variable interest rate lending and borrowing markets where users can deposit crypto assets to earn yield or borrow against collateral with rates that adjust based on utilization. Uses the ERC-4626 tokenized vault standard for standardized position accounting.
• Fixed Rate Pool Fixed interest rate lending and borrowing markets that offer bond-like instruments with defined expiries, allowing users to lock in predictable rates for both deposits and loans. Users receive exaVouchers (exaTokens) representing their fixed-rate positions.
• Exa App The user-facing application and integration layer for Exactly Protocol, enabling users to interact with the protocol directly. Also provides integration capabilities for fintechs, banks, and exchanges to embed DeFi credit functionality into their own platforms.
• EXA Staking Program (stEXA) A staking program that allows EXA token holders to stake their tokens and receive stEXA, earning rewards while participating in the protocol's governance and security.

Quantifiable outcome

• Fixed interest rates are determined by the Utilization Rate of each Fixed Rate Pool through a continuous and differentiable function, enabling market clearing

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ChainlinkcoreTechnology or IntegrationExactly Protocol uses Chainlink price feeds for asset pricing. PriceFeedDouble and PriceFeedWrapper contracts integrate Chainlink feeds to retrieve accurate asset prices for WBTC, wstETH, and other supported assets. This integration is critical for the protocol's risk management and collateral valuation.
• ChainSafeminorOthersSecurity auditor that audited Exactly Protocol smart contracts.
• CoinspectminorOthersSecurity auditor that audited Exactly Protocol smart contracts.
• ABDKminorOthersSecurity auditor that audited Exactly Protocol smart contracts.
• CrypteconminorOthersSecurity auditor that audited Exactly Protocol smart contracts.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Aave: Currently the largest decentralized lending protocol with both variable and (newer) stable-rate markets. Directly comparable to Exactly as a non-custodial money market on EVM chains, but with far greater TVL, brand recognition, and a multi-chain footprint.
• Compound Finance: Pioneer DeFi money market offering variable-rate lending and borrowing with the COMP governance token. Comparable to Exactly's variable-rate pools but historically lacked a native fixed-rate primitive; serves the same crypto-native depositor/borrower base.
• Notional Finance: Decentralized protocol specifically built for fixed-rate, fixed-term lending and borrowing. Most head-to-head competitor to Exactly on fixed-rate credit discovery; similar use cases (DAOs hedging funding costs, traders arbitraging curves) and similar composable tokenized positions (nTokens).
• Pendle Finance: Yield-trading protocol that splits yield-bearing assets into principal and yield tokens for fixed-income-like strategies. Competes for the same fixed-income-in-DeFi narrative and overlaps on use cases (locking in predictable yields, hedging variable rates) via a different mechanism.
• Morpho: Optimized peer-to-peer lending layer on top of Aave/Compound that improves capital efficiency and rates. Direct competitor in the DeFi credit infrastructure category with overlap on Morpho Blue's permissionless market creation; comparable team stage and EVM focus.
• Spark Protocol: Sky/MakerDAO's lending protocol primarily deployed on OP Mainnet — Exact's home chain. Targets the same Optimism DeFi user base for variable-rate lending (sDAI, ETH, etc.), making it one of the closest in-ecosystem competitors.

Emerging players

• Silo Finance: Isolated lending markets protocol allowing permissionless creation of risk-segmented money markets. Comparable on the lending-primitive axis and on use cases (long-tail asset borrowing, risk-isolated pools), though it focuses on isolation rather than fixed-rate discovery.
• Euler Labs: Modular DeFi lending protocol with customizable interest rate models and risk-adjusted collateral factors — architecturally similar to Exactly's risk-adjusted collateral framework. Comparable scope (EVM lending infrastructure) and comparable stage (recovering from a 2023 exploit).
• Radiant Capital: Omnichain money market allowing cross-chain lending and borrowing of assets. Overlaps with Exactly on the variable-rate money-market side, with broader multi-chain ambitions; comparable early-stage profile.

Broad incumbents

• Synthetix: Decentralized derivatives liquidity protocol on Optimism and Base. Both a strategic investor in Exactly and a thematic peer — Synthetix's on-chain perps and synths intersect with Exactly's fixed-income credit narrative under the broader DeFi-on-OP-Mainnet ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/exactlyprotocol
• GitHubgithub.com/exactly
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/exalabssas

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors12 records

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Exactly