What Notional Finance does

Notional Finance is a decentralized finance protocol deployed on Ethereum that enables peer-to-peer fixed-rate borrowing and lending of digital assets, a specialization that distinguishes it from the dominant variable-rate lending platforms such as Aave and Compound. The protocol is operated by Swapnet Inc, a privately held Delaware C-corp headquartered in New York with a mailing address in Emeryville, California. The core product is a fixed-rate, fixed-term lending primitive accessed via the notional.finance portal; users connect Web3 wallets and interact directly with smart contracts — there is no account creation, no KYC, and no sales layer. The company operates at a headcount of 1-10 employees, with founder Teddy Woodward serving as CEO and co-founder.

The technical stack consists of Ethereum smart contracts augmented by three product layers: the NOTE governance and utility token (with a weekly buy-and-burn mechanism per NIP-70 that has retired 2,352,881 tokens to date), sNOTE (a staked NOTE receipt that converts into 80/20 NOTE/ETH Balancer LP tokens and earns protocol revenues), and a leveraged vault product supporting USDC and WETH deposits into third-party yield strategies including InfiniFi Locked USD and mAPOLLO with up to 7.14x rewards multipliers. Governance is fully on-chain via Snapshot voting and a Notional forum, with named delegates (Mikhail Kuptsov at 791.74K NOTE, Re7 Labs at 725.74K NOTE, and Anthias.xyz at 350.35K NOTE) controlling a meaningful share of voting power. The protocol integrates with Balancer (core infrastructure for the NOTE/ETH pool), CoinGecko (price data), Matcha (trade routing), and Dune Analytics (governance dashboards).

Notional's revenue model is unusual for a venture-backed company: the protocol charges no fees to users, and Ethereum gas costs are borne by the transacting party. The company's only economic activity is the distribution of protocol-owned tokens to NOTE stakers via Balancer LP rewards, generating an estimated annual reward rate of $1,105 against a $145,268 sNOTE pool at 0.76% APY. The company has raised approximately $11.3 million across a May 2020 seed round ($1.3M from 1confirmation, Coinbase Ventures, LedgerPrime, Polychain) and an April 2021 Series A ($10M led by Pantera Capital with ParaFi Capital and Spartan Group). As of 2025, the NOTE token trades at approximately $0.0037 with a market cap of $366,019, and the project has been externally characterized as one of several VC-backed crypto projects that have declined significantly from prior peaks.

Name

Notional Finance

Legal name

Swapnet Inc

Website

https://notional.finance

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Notional Finance is an Ethereum-based decentralized protocol that enables peer-to-peer fixed-rate, fixed-term crypto lending and borrowing. It serves self-directed DeFi users globally via smart-contract interaction, with no fees, and operates governance through the NOTE token.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Lending

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232), Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (523)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Decentralized Lending & Borrowing Protocols (FSADAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Staking, Restaking & Liquid Staking Finance (LST/LRT, validator markets) (FSAPAEAH), Yield, Vaults & Asset Management (vault strategies, robo-vaults, structured yield) (FSAPAEAG)

Keywords

• Decentralized lending protocol
• Fixed-rate lending
• Crypto borrowing platform
• Defi yield vaults
• Governance token

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Protocol Revenue (NOTE staking rewards): Protocol revenues are used to fund rewards for NOTE stakers. The protocol converts owned tokens into NOTE and burns them weekly. Staking rewards are distributed via additional 80/20 NOTE/ETH Balancer LP tokens.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Notional Finance operates a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on Ethereum that enables users to lend and borrow crypto assets at fixed interest rates over fixed terms, eliminating the interest rate volatility inherent to variable-rate DeFi lending markets. The protocol issues the NOTE governance token and an sNOTE staking receipt, and offers Leveraged Vaults that automate leveraged yield strategies for users seeking predictable on-chain fixed income.

Product overview

Notional Finance is a DeFi lending protocol operating as a single-platform product suite on Ethereum. The core offering is the Notional Protocol, a decentralized fixed-rate lending and borrowing platform accessed via the notional.finance portal. Built on top of the protocol are the NOTE governance token (which also serves as the protocol's utility token), sNOTE (staked NOTE that converts to 80/20 NOTE/ETH Balancer LP tokens and earns protocol revenues), and Leveraged Vaults (yield strategies with up to 7.14x multipliers). Governance is conducted viaSnapshot voting on NIPs (Notional Improvement Proposals), with a 15-day cooldown and 3-day redemption window for NOTE unstaking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Notional Protocol Decentralized fixed-rate, fixed-term lending and borrowing protocol on Ethereum that lets crypto users lend or borrow digital assets at predictable interest rates over specified maturities, eliminating the rate volatility of variable-rate DeFi markets.
• NOTE Token Governance and utility token of the Notional ecosystem, used for community voting on protocol parameters via Snapshot and incorporating a deflationary buy-and-burn mechanism.
• sNOTE (Staked NOTE) Liquid staking receipt token issued when NOTE is staked in the protocol, distributing protocol revenue to holders while allowing governance delegation.
• Leveraged Vaults Automated on-chain vault strategies that leverage Notional's fixed-rate markets to generate amplified, predictable yield for DeFi users.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 43.86% Max APY on leveraged vault products
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• BalancercoreTechnology or IntegrationNotional uses Balancer's AMM infrastructure for the NOTE/ETH 80/20 pool where sNOTE stakers provide liquidity. The protocol funds staking rewards using protocol revenues distributed as Balancer LP tokens.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Aave: Aave is the dominant DeFi lending protocol on Ethereum with billions in TVL. While it primarily offers variable-rate lending, Aave v3 and its GHO stablecoin have expanded into fixed-rate-adjacent products, making it the most important competitor for Notional's core lending market.
• MakerDAO (Sky): MakerDAO/Sky operates the Dai savings rate and DSR mechanism that functions as fixed-yield DeFi infrastructure. As a broad incumbent, it competes for the same user capital seeking predictable DeFi returns that Notional targets.
• Compound: Compound is one of the original Ethereum DeFi lending protocols and a foundational competitor. While predominantly variable-rate, its scale, governance framework (COMP token), and institutional integrations make it a structural benchmark for Notional's lending primitive.

Emerging players

• Spark Protocol: Spark Protocol is a Sky/MakerDAO-aligned lending market that has captured substantial fixed-yield deposits via its SSR (Spark Savings Rate). It competes for the same user base seeking predictable DeFi yields.
• Yearn Finance: Yearn Finance operates yield aggregation vaults on Ethereum, overlapping with Notional's Leveraged Vaults product. Both target DeFi users seeking optimized yield strategies with automated rebalancing.
• Silo Finance: Silo Finance offers isolated lending markets on Ethereum, enabling per-asset risk segmentation. While architecturally different, it competes for the same Ethereum DeFi lending liquidity that Notional targets.

Direct peers

• Euler: Euler is an Ethereum-based DeFi lending protocol offering modular lending markets. It competes for the same Ethereum DeFi lending user base and developer mindshare as Notional.
• Morpho: Morpho Blue is an optimized lending primitive on Ethereum that enables fixed-rate-style lending via peer-to-peer matching with pool fallback. Its architecture directly competes with Notional's fixed-rate lending thesis and has rapidly captured market share.
• Pendle: Pendle enables fixed-yield trading via Principal Tokens (PT) and Yield Tokens (YT), offering an alternative fixed-rate exposure mechanism. It directly addresses the same user need (predictable yield) that Notional serves with fixed-rate lending.
• Maple Finance: Maple Finance offers fixed-duration, fixed-rate institutional lending via on-chain credit pools. It directly addresses the fixed-rate crypto lending market that Notional pioneered and competes for both retail and institutional DeFi lenders.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NotionalFinance
• Facebookfacebook.com/NotionalFinance
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/notionalfinance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Notional Finance