What is Compound?
Compound is an algorithmic money market protocol on Ethereum that lets users earn interest or borrow assets against collateral. Anyone can supply assets to Compound’s liquidity pool and immediately begin earning continuously-compounding interest. Rates adjust automatically based on supply and demand.
Supplied asset balances are represented by cTokens: representations of the underlying asset that earn interest and serve as collateral. Users can borrow up to 50-75% of their cTokens’ value, depending on the quality of the underlying asset. Users can add or remove funds at any time, but if their debt becomes undercollateralized, anyone can liquidate; a 5% discount on liquidated assets serves as incentive for liquidators.
The Compound protocol sets aside 10% of interest paid as reserves; the rest goes to suppliers. Compound initially launched on mainnet in September 2018 and upgraded to v2 in May 2019. The protocol now supports BAT, DAI, SAI, ETH, REP, USDC, WBTC, and ZRX. Compound has been audited and formally verified. As of May 2020, Compound has transitioned to community governance; COMP token-holders and their delegates debate, propose, and vote on all changes to Compound.
