Compound
Compound aims to unlock various open financial applications
About
What is Compound?
Compound is an algorithmic interest rate protocol run by Compound Labs, an open-source software development firm focused on tools, products and services for the decentralized finance space.
Compound was founded in 2017 by Robert Leshner and Jeff Hayes. They worked together with investors who had an interest in the project and helped launch it. Among them were Bain Capital Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as Coinbase and Polychain Capital. At the initial stages, Compound faced substantial criticism, mainly caused by its centralized authority. This eventually led to the founding company’s decision to transfer more control over the protocol to the community.
On May 27, 2019, co-founder of the company Leshner announced that decisions on protocol changes were transferred to the community. Soon, Compound’s in-house token, COMP, was launched, and by June 15, 2019, a token distribution model was approved by the community and put into effect.
Roadmap
Robert Leshner and Jeff Hayes registered the company Compound Labs, Inc. with its head office in San Francisco.
Co-founder of the company Robert Leshner published an article about the development of the Compound protocol.
The company attracted seed investments of $8.2 mln. Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, Transmedia Capital, Compound Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Danhua Capital and Coinbase Ventures had strong interest in the project and participated in the investment round.
Compound Labs introduced the first version of the protocol that allows you to borrow five cryptocurrencies. ETH, TUSD, ZRX, BAT and REP were compounded on this platform.
The white paper as a part of the key elements of the project was published. On May 23, 2019, Compound Labs released the second version of the protocol with the release of cTokens representing the rights to the underlying assets of the money markets in Compound.
Compound Labs raised $25 mln in a series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Bain Capital Ventures, Polychain Capital and Paradigm had an interest in it and participated in the round.
Leshner announced his plan to gradually decentralize the protocol, depriving the team of the project of administrative privileges in favour of the community.
Compound Labs released the COMP native token utilized to encourage community involvement in the project.
Management of Compound was transferred from administrators to COMP token holders, who were able to change the list of supported coins, influence risk parameters, interest rate etc.
Compound investors
