Compound

What Compound does

Compound is a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing protocol operated by Compound Labs, Inc., a US-incorporated corporation headquartered in San Francisco. The protocol enables permissionless supply and borrowing of crypto assets across 28 markets deployed on 10 blockchain networks — Ethereum mainnet alongside Layer-2 and alternative-L1 deployments on Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, Mantle, Linea, Scroll, Unichain, and Ronin. Its users comprise self-custodied retail lenders and borrowers seeking yield on idle crypto holdings, active DeFi traders executing leveraged positions and arbitrage strategies, developer teams integrating Compound as a money-market primitive, and institutional allocators accessing the protocol indirectly through qualified custodians including Coinbase Custody, Anchorage, Fireblocks, and Bitgo.

The protocol operates two production codebases: Compound II (V2), the original Ethereum-pooled market design using cTokens, and Compound III (V3), the current flagship offering isolated, gas-efficient lending markets where each collateral asset is deployed as a separate market with its own risk parameters, reducing cross-asset contagion relative to pooled architectures. Interest rates are set algorithmically via per-market utilization curves without human pricing intervention; the codebase is formally verified and audited by multiple independent security firms, with a publicly listed $1,000,000 Immunefi bug bounty. Compound integrates with over 25 channel partners spanning custodians, hardware and software wallets, major exchanges, and aggregator interfaces, and the entire ecosystem is governed by the COMP ERC-20 token via the Tally dashboard and comp.xyz forum.

Monetization flows through the protocol's reserve factor — a configurable portion of borrower interest that accrues to on-chain protocol reserves rather than directly to a corporate entity, with parameters set via COMP token governance. The protocol does not have a conventional SaaS revenue stream; rather, Compound Labs raised $4 million in equity funding in June 2023 specifically to develop regulated financial products on blockchain rails. Pricing is usage-based with no subscription: borrowers pay per-market variable APYs (e.g., 0.12% on USDC, 0.13% on USDT, 0.16% on ETH on Compound III Ethereum) and lenders earn supply APYs as a fraction of borrow APYs after the reserve factor.

Name

Compound

Legal name

Compound Labs, Inc.

Website

https://compound.finance

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Compound is a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol operated by Compound Labs, Inc., enabling permissionless supply and borrow of crypto assets across 28 markets on 10 blockchains. The protocol is governed by COMP token holders and serves retail lenders, DeFi traders, developer integrators, and institutional allocators via custody partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Finance Lending Protocol

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Decentralized Lending Protocols (DeFi Money Markets) (FSADAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Lending Protocol Infrastructure (Oracles, Rate Models, Vaults) (FSADAFAN)

Keywords

• Decentralized lending protocol
• Crypto lending markets
• Algorithmic interest rates
• Smart contract borrowing
• DeFi money markets

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Protocol Reserve Factor (Interest Spread): Compound protocol retains a configurable reserve factor — a portion of interest paid by borrowers — which accrues to protocol reserves rather than directly to a corporate entity. Distribution parameters are set via COMP governance. As a decentralized protocol, Compound does not have a conventional SaaS revenue stream; monetization flows are governed on-chain.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Compound operates a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol on Ethereum, deployed across 10 EVM-compatible networks (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, Mantle, Linea, Scroll, Unichain, Ronin). Users supply crypto assets (USDC, USDT, ETH, WBTC, wstETH, USDS, and others) to earn algorithmically-set variable interest, or borrow against on-chain collateral via smart contracts without intermediaries. The protocol is community-governed through the COMP ERC-20 token and is offered through two production versions—Compound II (V2) on Ethereum mainnet and Compound III (V3) deployed across multiple chains with isolated-market architecture.

Product overview

Compound is a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing protocol offered as a platform-plus-modules architecture built on Ethereum and deployed across multiple EVM-compatible chains. Its current flagship is Compound III (V3), which provides isolated lending markets across 28 markets on chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, Mantle, Linea, Unichain, Scroll, and Ronin, while the legacy Compound II (V2) continues to operate on Ethereum mainnet under the cToken pooled-market model. The ecosystem is governed by the COMP ERC-20 token through the Compound Governance Dashboard (on Tally), which oversees all protocol changes. Users access the protocol through the Compound App (app.compound.finance) for supply/borrow/rewards activity, supported by a wide range of community-built interfaces, wallets, custodians, and tax tools listed on the homepage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Compound II: Compound II is the V2 protocol version of Compound — the original Ethereum-based lending and borrowing protocol with algorithmic interest rates.
• Compound III

Products and services

• Compound III (V3) Current flagship version of the protocol offering isolated, gas-efficient lending and borrowing markets deployed across 10 EVM-compatible chains (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, Mantle, Linea, Scroll, Unichain, Ronin) with 28 active markets supporting USDC, USDT, ETH, WBTC, wstETH, USDS, USDe, AERO, WRON, and other collateral assets.
• Compound II (V2) Original pooled-market version of the Compound protocol, still live on Ethereum mainnet, providing lending markets for ETH, USDC, USDT, and other assets using the cToken model.
• COMP Governance Token ERC-20 asset that empowers community governance of the Compound protocol; holders and their delegates debate, propose, and vote on all changes to the protocol and receive daily COMP distributions (approximately 1,467 COMP daily, 4,504,930 COMP total distributed) when supplying or borrowing in enabled markets.
• Compound App (Markets Interface)

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration25 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Coinbase CustodyflagshipChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorInstitutional-grade custody provider offering secure custody for COMP and cTokens, with native support for Compound governance. Listed as a primary institutional integration on Compound's homepage.
• AnchoragecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorQualified custodian providing safe crypto custody with trading, staking, and Compound governance support. Featured in Compound's institutional integration section.
• FireblockscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorInstitutional custody and operations platform allowing safe movement of assets between exchanges, wallets, and Compound.
• BitgocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFull-service crypto custodian supporting both cTokens and COMP, enabling institutional access to Compound markets.
• LedgercoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHardware wallet integration allowing users to access Compound directly from Ledger's secure environment via its "Lend" product.
• OKXcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMajor cryptocurrency exchange integrating Compound so users can earn interest and borrow assets through OKX Web3 Earn.
• PoolTogetherminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNo-loss lottery protocol built on top of Compound, using interest earned in Compound markets as prize funds.
• BinancecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWorld's largest crypto exchange offers DeFi staking products powered by Compound.
• Crypto.comcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCrypto.com DeFi wallet has a native integration that lets users interact with Compound.
• TokentaxminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCryptocurrency tax and accounting software used by Compound users to track protocol activity.
• CointrackerminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPortfolio tracker and tax calculator that supports importing Compound activity.
• Compound AcademyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEducation platform elevating user knowledge of Compound III.
• Aave LabsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-author and lead of the cross-protocol "DeFi United" recovery coalition formed after the April 2026 Kelp DAO rsETH bridge exploit. Compound proposed contributing 1,900–3,000 ETH (up to $6.9M) to the rsETH recovery fund; the two protocols also co-authored the Arbitrum DAO AIP to release 30,765.67 ETH from the Security Council.
• KelpDAOflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-signer on the joint Arbitrum DAO proposal and DeFi United recovery coalition following the Kelp DAO rsETH exploit; Aave, KelpDAO and Certora hold the 2-of-3 Gnosis Safe that would custody the recovered ETH.
• LayerZerocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCross-chain interoperability protocol co-signing the DeFi United recovery proposal after the LayerZero-bridged rsETH exploit.
• EtherFicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLiquid restaking protocol co-signing the DeFi United recovery proposal; also pledged ether toward the recovery fund subject to governance vote.
• Certora

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Aave: Aave is the largest decentralized lending and borrowing protocol on Ethereum, offering algorithmic, pool-based money markets with variable and stable rates. It is Compound's closest direct competitor in product, customer base (DeFi lenders/borrowers), and multi-chain footprint, and is consistently cited alongside Compound as the top DeFi lending benchmark.
• MakerDAO (Sky): MakerDAO/Sky operates a CDP-based lending protocol allowing users to mint DAI/USDS against crypto collateral. It directly competes with Compound for crypto-collateralized borrowing demand and is grouped with Compound as a surviving blue-chip DeFi protocol in industry analyses.
• Spark (Sky Lending): Spark, built by the Sky/MakerDAO ecosystem, is a direct lending competitor that targets sDAI/USDS depositors and DAI borrowers. It overlaps with Compound's stablecoin lending market and is part of the same DeFi United coalition post the April 2026 rsETH exploit.
• Liquity: Liquity is a decentralized borrowing protocol that lets users draw interest-free loans against ETH collateral. It competes with Compound's ETH borrowing market and is consistently grouped with Compound, Aave, and MakerDAO as a reference DeFi lending protocol.

Emerging players

• Morpho: Morpho is an emerging lending optimizer that builds directly on top of Compound (via Compound Blue) and Aave markets to improve lender/borrower spreads. It overlaps with Compound on customer base and is partially additive (routing volume through Compound) but also a potential disintermediation risk.
• Silo Finance: Silo Finance is a fully isolated lending primitive on Ethereum that mirrors Compound III's isolated-market design philosophy. It targets the same DeFi lending segment and competes for new asset listings and integrations, particularly on Ethereum mainnet.
• Euler: Euler is an Ethereum-based permissionless lending protocol with a modular, isolated-market architecture. It is comparable to Compound III on product design (isolated markets, multi-chain deployment via Euler V2) and competes for both lenders and integrator relationships.
• Radiant: Radiant is a cross-chain money market protocol (Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Ethereum) that pools lending liquidity across chains. It is comparable to Compound on product (lend/borrow against crypto) and competes for the same multi-chain DeFi user base.

Broad incumbents

• Curve Finance: Curve is a blue-chip DeFi DEX and stablecoin liquidity protocol. While not a direct lending competitor, it shares the same Ethereum DeFi user base, COMP-style governance token model, and is consistently cited alongside Compound as a surviving top-tier DeFi protocol.
• Yearn Finance: Yearn is a yield-aggregator protocol that historically routes deposits through Compound markets to generate yield. It is adjacent rather than directly competitive, but is part of the same DeFi lending ecosystem and shares blue-chip protocol status.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/compoundfinance
• Facebookfacebook.com/0xdd086832d7ea3260c4d1e3810c2e07a6c4762eb7

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors27 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Compound