Compound

Compound was founded in 2017 by Robert Leshner and Geoffrey Hayes, both of whom previously worked at the online food delivery service Postmates. Leshner currently serves as the CEO of Compound Labs, the software development firm behind the Compound protocol, while Hayes is the CTO. The Compound team now comprises over a dozen individuals, with almost half of them working as engineers. The founders and current team hold a significant portion of the total COMP token supply (around 2.2 million tokens), with a 4-year vesting schedule.

Compound is a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol that allows users to earn interest on their cryptocurrency holdings by depositing them into various pools supported by the platform. Users who deposit assets receive cTokens in return, which represent their stake in the pool. Over time, the exchange rate of these cTokens increases, allowing users to redeem them for more of the underlying asset and earn interest. The protocol also allows borrowers to take out secured loans by depositing collateral. The maximum loan-to-value ratio varies based on the collateral asset, but can range from 50% to 75%. Borrowers are subject to automatic liquidation if their collateral falls below a specific maintenance threshold. A unique feature of Compound is its community governance model, where holders of the COMP governance token can propose and vote on changes to the protocol, such as which cryptocurrencies to support or how to adjust collateralization factors.

The total supply of COMP tokens is capped at 10 million. More than two-thirds of these tokens (approximately 8.36 million) are currently in circulation. Out of the 10 million total COMP tokens, over 4.2 million will be distributed to Compound users over a 4-year period. Another 2.4 million tokens are allocated to Compound Labs shareholders, while 2.2 million are reserved for the founders and current team, also with a 4-year vesting schedule. The exact rate of COMP token emissions is subject to change over time, as the community governance model allows voters to increase or decrease the emission rate through proposals.