Cowrie Research

exactly-protocol

3 min read

Exactly Protocol

  • Name: Exactly Protocol
  • URL: https://exact.ly/
  • Category: fixed-rate lending protocol / utilization-priced maturity-pool credit market / shared-liquidity fixed-income system
  • Tags: ethereum-ecosystem
  • Summary: Exactly Protocol is fixed-rate lending without maturity tokens as the main instrument. The useful mechanism is the shared-liquidity bridge: one floating-rate pool per asset temporarily funds multiple fixed-term pools, so rate discovery happens through maturity-pool utilization and governance-shaped curve parameters rather than through zero-coupon token pricing. Keep it as a fixed-rate credit design note, not as a PT/YT market or benchmark-publication venue.
  • What it does:
    • Lets users lend and borrow crypto assets at both variable and fixed rates inside one protocol
    • Uses one Variable Rate Pool per asset to provide immediate liquidity to multiple Fixed Rate Pools with different maturities
    • Prices fixed-rate loans from the utilization of each maturity pool rather than from maturity-token prices or a bespoke AMM for zero-coupon claims
    • Issues ERC-4626 exaVoucher deposit claims for variable-rate suppliers and allows those vouchers to be used as collateral
    • Uses dynamic close-factor liquidation logic, liquidity reserves, and risk-adjust factors to manage solvency and withdrawals
  • Key claims:
    • The official site describes Exactly as a decentralized, non-custodial, open-source protocol providing an autonomous fixed- and variable-rate interest market.
    • The white paper says the protocol discovers fixed rates directly from the supply and demand of credit in each Fixed Rate Pool for each asset and maturity term.
    • The important architectural move is the Variable Rate Pool. The math paper says it exists to satisfy fixed-rate demand immediately until matching fixed-term deposits arrive, so the protocol is trying to warehouse liquidity fragmentation instead of embracing dated token markets.
    • The white and math papers explicitly contrast Exactly with Notional-, Yield-, Element-, and Pendle-like maturity-token systems, arguing those designs fragment liquidity and make fixed-rate discovery depend indirectly on token slippage or special-purpose AMMs.
    • That is the useful branch distinction: Exactly prices term credit through utilization curves attached to maturity pools, not through discounted repayment tokens trading toward par.
    • The papers model fixed-rate borrowing with continuous utilization-based rate functions and describe normal, leveraged, and unreachable regimes, which makes curve-shape calibration a central governance lever rather than a background implementation detail.
    • The docs say the TimelockController is the administrator, with a 24-hour timelock and a 3-of-6 multisig executor; the Protocol Owner multisig controls upgrades, parameter changes, and pause powers.
    • The docs and query interface say a Risk Management Committee multisig can update listed assets, rate models, risk-adjust factors, liquidator incentives, and liquidity reserves, while Hypernative can trigger emergency pauses but not unpause the protocol.

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