Background

Notional Finance

Notional is the first decentralized, Ethereum-based protocol for borrowing and lending at fixed rates and fixed terms. With variable rate lending, DeFi can only serve a small segment of the crypto lending market because variable interest rates don’t provide the certainty that lenders and borrowers require. Notional fixes this by creating a true market for lenders and borrowers that democratizes and empowers individual investors, business owners and institutional investors.

Right now, users can borrow or lend USDC & DAI for up to one year, and ETH & WBTC for up to six months from Notional's on-chain liquidity pools. With Notional's V2 upgrade, liquidity providers enjoy a low-touch experience, and no longer need to roll their debts to new maturities as it is done automatically through the use of nTokens, ERC20 tokens that represent a user's share of the liquidity pool.

After raising a $10 million Series A in May 2021 from some of the top VC firms, including Coinbase Ventures, Notional’s protocol relaunched on 11/1 with a host of new features as well as the NOTE governance token and a TVL of appx. 500M.

Integrationstwitter

🎁 Notional Exponent Launches with 100,000 $NOTE Incentive Program

Fri 30th Jan 2026
Notional is distributing **100,000 $NOTE tokens** to early users of its Exponent vaults over the first six weeks. **How it works:** - Deposit funds into a Notional Exponent vault - Earn $NOTE tokens proportional to your deposit size - Larger deposits = more $NOTE earned The incentive program aims to bootstrap liquidity for Notional's new Exponent product, which builds on the protocol's existing fixed-rate lending and borrowing infrastructure. [Learn more about Notional Exponent](https://notional.finance)

Notional Introduces Smart Withdrawal for Instant Position Unwinding

Fri 30th Jan 2026
Notional has launched **Smart Withdrawal**, a new feature that enables users to exit leveraged positions instantly without costs, even when underlying collateral has redemption delays. **Key benefits:** - Zero-cost leverage unwinds on illiquid collateral - Eliminates need to sell collateral at a discount - Reduces redemption time from 6+ cycles to just 1 cycle - No waiting weeks to fully exit positions The innovation addresses a critical pain point in DeFi lending, where users previously faced either selling assets below market value or enduring lengthy withdrawal periods.

🚀 Notional Launches First Exponent Vault with Midas RWA

Fri 30th Jan 2026
Notional has launched its first **Exponent vault** featuring **$mAPOLLO**, developed in partnership with Midas RWA and Apollo Crypto. **Key Details:** - First vault in the Notional Exponent series - Collaboration between Midas RWA and Apollo Crypto - Part of a broader expansion with more vaults planned **What's Next:** Notional indicates this is just the beginning, with plans to introduce: - Additional vaults (including $mHYPER) - More curators - Increased liquidity options - Enhanced yield opportunities The Exponent platform aims to improve leveraged yield strategies for DeFi users. The vault is now available for users to try.
Community article

Notional Exponent Launch Pushed to January 29th

Fri 30th Jan 2026
Notional has announced a slight delay to its Exponent launch, now scheduled for **January 29th**. The protocol, which enables fixed-rate borrowing and lending on Ethereum, is preparing to release its latest version after previously setting a November 17th launch date for the beta. **Key Details:** - New launch date: January 29th, 2026 - Follows previous delay from November 2025 target - Exponent represents next iteration of the protocol Notional currently supports lending and borrowing of USDC, DAI (up to 1 year) and ETH, WBTC (up to 6 months) through on-chain liquidity pools.

Notional Exponent Launches Jan 26 with Two USDC Yield Strategies

Thu 15th Jan 2026
Notional Exponent launches January 26th, offering two USDC-based leveraged yield strategies: **Strategy Options:** - **mHYPER**: 11.18% 7-day APY (managed by Hyperithm) - **mAPOLLO**: 12.20% 7-day APY (managed by Apollo Crypto FM) Both strategies provide transparent, leveraged exposure to vault returns, with advertised APYs exceeding 25% when leverage is applied. The vaults are managed by specialized firms that optimize yield generation, while users gain leveraged access to their performance. The platform aims to deliver consistent, high-yield opportunities through these managed strategies, giving users a choice between two different approaches to USDC yield generation.

Notional V3 Shuts Down After Balancer Hack Wipes Out Leveraged Vault Users

Thu 20th Nov 2025
**Notional V3 has permanently shut down** following a November 3rd Balancer V2 hack that devastated the protocol. **The damage was severe:** - Leveraged vault users lost 100% of their positions - ETH lenders faced massive haircuts: 56% on Mainnet, 19% on Arbitrum - Total bad debt reached 713 ETH across both networks **What happened:** The hack targeted five vaults containing ETH pairs, zeroing out all collateral values. Notional's team immediately paused the protocol but determined the damage was too extensive to continue operations. **User impact breakdown:** - **Vault holders:** Complete loss of positions - **ETH lenders:** Significant haircuts on asset values - **Other users:** No haircuts applied **Recovery efforts:** Notional used all reserves (~$485,000 total) to minimize ETH lender losses. The team converted non-ETH reserves to ETH for proportional distribution to affected users. **What's next:** Balancer is working with authorities on potential fund recovery. Any recovered assets will be distributed proportionally to Notional users. The team is evaluating future plans.

Notional V3 Shuts Down After Balancer Hack Creates 721.6 ETH Bad Debt

Mon 3rd Nov 2025
**Notional V3 is winding down** on Mainnet and Arbitrum following the Balancer V2 exploit that created 641.4 ETH bad debt on Mainnet and 80.2 ETH on Arbitrum. **Impact on users:** - Users in Balancer/Aura leveraged vaults face **100% loss** of position value - ETH lenders and liquidity providers will see **significant haircuts** to account values - Cross-currency borrowers will be **auto-migrated to Aave** **Wind-down process begins November 11-12** with borrower migrations. Each migrated borrower receives a Gnosis safe with dual ownership (borrower + Notional) to manage their Aave position. Notional cannot function properly with this level of bad debt and will publish detailed withdrawal plans for remaining users.

Notional Launches Exponent Beta with 4 Leveraged Yield Strategies

Thu 2nd Oct 2025
**Notional Exponent Beta** is launching with a **6-week program** featuring innovative leveraged yield strategies. **Key Features:** - 4 new leveraged yield strategies - 100,000 $NOTE token incentives for participants - Beta testing phase for the world's first leveraged yield protocol This represents the **next evolution** of Notional's fixed-rate lending protocol, expanding beyond traditional borrowing and lending into leveraged yield generation. The beta program offers early access to test these new strategies while earning substantial NOTE rewards for participation.
Community article

Notional Exponent Introduces Smart Liquidation for Illiquid DeFi Collateral

Thu 21st Aug 2025
Notional Exponent addresses a critical DeFi challenge: managing illiquid collateral that requires days to redeem. The protocol introduces **Smart Liquidation**, a solution designed to handle slow-moving collateral in DeFi lending markets. Key features: - Automated handling of illiquid assets - Reduced risk for lenders - Streamlined liquidation process This development builds on Notional's existing fixed-rate lending infrastructure, which currently manages approximately $500M in TVL. The solution aims to expand DeFi lending markets beyond instantly liquid assets, potentially opening new opportunities for real-world assets on-chain.
Community article

Notional Finance Announces Notional Exponent - First Leveraged Yield Protocol

Thu 3rd Jul 2025
Notional Finance has unveiled Notional Exponent, marking a significant evolution in DeFi lending. This new protocol introduces leveraged yield capabilities, a first in the space. Key features of Notional's current offering: - Fixed-rate lending for USDC & DAI (up to 1 year) - ETH & WBTC lending (up to 6 months) - Automated debt rolling via nTokens - ~$500M Total Value Locked (TVL) The protocol, backed by Coinbase Ventures among others, continues to build on its successful V2 upgrade and $10M Series A funding. Learn more: [Notional Exponent Announcement](https://blog.notional.finance/notional-exponent-doubling-down-on-leveraged-yield/)
dudes