Compound
Credit · Lending · COMP
Compound is one of the original DeFi lending protocols. Compound III simplifies each market to a single borrowable base asset with other assets posted purely as collateral.
Simple, battle-tested money markets (Compound III).
COMP price
$16.69
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Research
Components, facts, FAQ, timeline, and tokenomics in one place
Main components (2)
Compound III markets
Single base borrowable asset per market with separate collateral assets posted as collateral only.
COMP governance
Token holders propose and vote on new markets, collateral factors, and protocol upgrades.
Differentiator
Compound III is simpler than Aave — one base borrowable asset per market makes risk easier to understand, at the cost of multi-asset flexibility.
Organizational structure
Units & roles
- Founding development company
Compound Labs
Founded in 2017 by Robert Leshner and Geoffrey Hayes; built the Compound protocol and Compound III (Comet). Leshner stepped down as CEO in 2023 to found Superstate; the protocol is now steward by the DAO.
- Governance
Compound DAO
COMP token holders govern the protocol. Any address with at least 1% of COMP delegated to it can submit a proposal to add markets, change collateral factors, adjust interest-rate models, or upgrade contracts.
Investment rounds
| Date | Round | Amount | Investors | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-11-15 | Series A | $25M | Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)Polychain CapitalParadigmBain Capital Ventures | Source |
Similarity to traditional finance products
How Compound maps onto established TradFi structures, and where it diverges.
| TradFi product | Similarity to Compound | Key differences |
|---|---|---|
| Money-market fund | Suppliers earn a variable yield on assets lent from a pooled book of borrowers, comparable to a fund passing through short-term rates. | Loans are overcollateralized and enforced by smart contracts and automatic liquidations; non-custodial, permissionless, with rates set algorithmically by pool utilization rather than a fund manager. |
| Secured revolving credit line | In Compound III a borrower posts collateral and draws/repays a single base asset (e.g. USDC) at a floating rate, like a secured line of credit. | Fully collateralized on-chain and liquidated automatically once the borrow position breaches its collateral factor; no lender underwriting or credit checks. |