Compound Raises $8.2 Million to Create Money Markets for Crypto Assets
San Francisco — May. 16, 2018 — Blockchain technology company Compound is today announcing that it has raised $8.2 million in Seed funding to create money markets for cryptographic assets. The financing was led by Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, with participation from Transmedia Capital, Compound Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Danhua Capital and Coinbase.
Today, the majority of assets sit idle on exchanges and in wallets, yielding no interest — when Compound launches its first money markets on the Ethereum blockchain, individuals, institutions and applications will earn interest on Ether, stablecoins and utility tokens, with complete liquidity — similar to the overnight rate for dollars and government currencies.
“Compound is decentralized blockchain infrastructure for enabling a clear use case — interest rates for cryptoassets — with a relentless focus on security and interoperability.” said Salil Deshpande of Bain Capital Ventures.
Compound’s protocol is a series of open-source smart contracts that algorithmically adjust the interest rates for each asset in real-time, as borrowing demand for the asset changes. Those borrowers, mainly hedge funds, sophisticated speculators and other Ethereum applications, use their portfolio as collateral to borrow from the protocol.
The result: fully liquid, transparent and predictable interest rates — ready for developer and institutional adoption.
“Spot interest rates are a financial primitive, and necessary for the evolution of decentralized markets” said Olaf Carlson-Wee of Polychain Capital, “Compound’s goal is to become permanent infrastructure…A company that survives a hundred years.”
About Compound
Compound’s mission is to establish frictionless money markets for cryptographic assets, allowing investors to share a larger economic pie. The company was founded in 2017 by Robert Leshner, CFA, and Geoff Hayes, and is planning to launch its first markets by year-end 2018.
