Aave · CoinDesk
Compound bets $52 million, new leadership team in switch to institutional focus
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★ Tier-1 Source
Compound Finance, one of the oldest decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocols, replaced its leadership team and approved a $52 million budget on Monday to attract new capital after the value of assets locked on the platform tumbled to $1.2 billion from a peak of $12 billion in September 2021.
Key facts
- Combined CEX volumes fell 23.9% to $3.76T in July, the lowest since November 2023, as DEX spot market share climbed to a record 19.5% and RWA perps hit $460B
- Steven Liu, who scaled Maple Finance from $500 million to $5 billion in assets, joins as chief product officer and the former CEO of Coinbase Custody, Aaron Schnarch, becomes an executive director
- Still, the sector is forecast to reach $2.7 trillion by 2030, with tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) among the fastest-growing segments, according to a Standard Chartered projection
- Over the past few years, it has lost ground to competitors such as Aave, which holds more than 11 times its TVL with $14.8 billion, DeFiLlama data shows
Summary
Compound Finance overhauled its leadership and approved a record $52 million budget as it seeks to revive growth after its total value locked fell to $1.2 billion from a $12 billion peak in 2021. The protocol is pivoting toward institutional clients by developing real-world asset offerings, partner integrations and credit infrastructure designed to meet traditional finance compliance and technical standards. Industry executives say the new leadership team and sizable budget align with a broader shift in DeFi toward serving financial institutions, after the sector’s overall assets declined amid market weakness and security exploits.