Compound (COMP) Crypto Exchange

Compound (COMP) is a decentralized, Ethereum-based lending platform that supports multiple cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2017 in San Francisco by two entrepreneurs, Robert Leshner and Geoffrey Hayes. As long as a user holds crypto the protocol supports, they can earn interest by lending once another user borrows the said crypto.

When someone deposits a crypto asset into one of the Compound’s lending pools, it's exchanged into native assets called COMP or cTokens (cETH, cBAT, cDAI) and sent to the lender. For instance, if a user deposits Ethereum, it is automatically converted into an equal amount of cETH. The said cETH is then used as collateral when a borrower wants to take out a loan and earns interest when lending. Forces of demand and supply determine the platform’s interest rates for borrowing and credit. If there are a high number of people looking to lend, the smart contract lowers the rates, which attracts more borrowers and vice versa. COMP tokens can be used to both vote on proposals and to assign voting rights to other users to vote for you.

In June of 2020, the team behind the Compound platform announced that they have finished the core work on the protocol. Such a milestone also meant that Compound Labs, which up to that point played a central role in protocol development, was stepping back and allowing the project’s community to take over its governance.