Compound dominates the decentralized finance market. About 19% of the value locked up in DeFi—$9.24 billion out of a total $48.75 billion—is locked up in the app, according to DeFi metrics site DeFi Pulse. Next up is Maker with $7.79 billion, followed by Aave with $5.80 billion.

Compound and DeFi

Compound is a DeFi protocol that lets traders borrow money and earn interest on crypto.

DeFi refers to a wide network of non-custodial and financial services powered by smart contracts (self-executing code). These protocols allow their users to use bank-like services without the need for a bank, or any other third-party intermediary. Most of the big ones are built on the Ethereum network.

The governance of these protocols is also decentralized; token holders vote on the future of the network. The governance decisions for the Compound project are made by staking COMP, Compound’s token. COMP’s current price is $552.56, according to CoinMarketCap data.

At the start of last year, the entire DeFi industry was worth just $1 billion.