DeFi Startup Notional Expands Fixed-Rate Lending Presence With V2 Upgrade

Fixed-rate cryptocurrency lending startup Notional is growing its decentralized finance (DeFi) presence with the launch of its V2 upgrade, the company announced Monday.

The company, which offers fixed-rate debt using an on-chain automated market maker (AMM), said the new iteration of its platform has improved security and liquidity, following a $10 million Series A funding round in April led by Pantera Capital.

The protocol currently offers fixed-rate borrowing of USD coin (USDC) and DAI for up to one year, and wrapped bitcoin (wBTC) and ether (ETH) borrowing for up to six months. It has received three independent audits from ABDK Consulting, Certora and Code Arena, according to a press release.

Read more: Notional Raises $10M to Grow DeFi Lending Protocol With ‘Real World’ Potential

The company issues its own NOTE token (nToken) that qualifies as collateral on the platform, which users can borrow against without giving up any of their returns. The company says that 50% of the total nToken supply will be used to incentivize liquidity providers, with 20% to be distributed in the first year.

The company said it plans on front-loading incentive distribution to reward early liquidity providers, who can deposit DAI, USDC, ETH and wBTC to earn interest, liquidity fees and NOTE incentives.

NToken holders also receive governance perks that let them propose and vote on changes to Notional’s system parameters and the Notional smart contract.

The company said it plans to implement a layer 2 solution in future versions of the platform in addition to increasing utility and governance for NOTE holders.

“Notional V2 brings the values of transparency, openness and efficiency to the $100 trillion fixed income market,” Notional CEO Teddy Woodward told CoinDesk. “We are extremely excited to kick off the next chapter of DeFi’s growth by enabling liquid fixed income products on Ethereum.”

The lending protocol’s V2 comes a year after launching out of stealth in October 2020 after raising $1.3 million from Coinbase Ventures, 1Confirmation and Polychain.