Founded in mid-2017, San Francisco-based Compound is building an on-chain money market that algorithmically sets interest rates for lending and borrowing cryptocurrency. Users can deposit supported tokens (initially Ether, a stablecoin and several other assets) to earn variable interest, or post collateral equal to 100% of the value they wish to borrow. Rates fluctuate automatically according to real-time supply-and-demand, and lenders may withdraw at any time with roughly 15-second settlement; Compound takes a 10% share of the interest earned. Although the system is centralized today, management plans to transition rate-setting to the community over time and eventually list tokenized real-world assets such as fiat currencies or equities. The seven-person team is led by co-founder and CEO Robert Leshner, a former CPA and economics enthusiast, and CTO Geoff Hayes; it emerged from stealth in January 2018. Leshner positions Compound as an alternative to idle crypto holdings, enabling short-selling and greater liquidity across the ecosystem. Long-term, the company aspires to manage BlackRock-scale assets with a lean workforce.

Total raised

$33M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Nov 2019