Compound V3, also known as Comet, is a decentralized lending protocol with a deliberately simplified design. In each market you can borrow a single base asset, such as a stablecoin, against a set of approved collateral assets. It ranks second of fifteen in our Lending platforms category, with a strong score of 8.02.
What is different about Compound V3?
Earlier pooled designs let every supplied asset also be borrowed. Compound V3 narrows each market to one borrowable base asset while collateral is supplied separately and, in this model, does not itself earn borrow interest in the same way. The aim is a clearer risk surface: collateral supports the base-asset debt, and liquidation logic is focused around that single borrowable asset. Borrowers still must stay overcollateralized, and positions can be liquidated if collateral value falls too far.
Why does a single borrowable asset help?
Concentrating each market on one debt asset makes the failure modes easier to reason about. A supplier lending the base asset knows exactly what backs the loans, and risk from a troubled collateral type is more contained than in a market where any asset can be both borrowed and used as collateral. The trade-off is that suppliers of collateral assets forgo the borrow interest they might earn in a fully shared pool, so the model favors clarity and safety over maximizing every asset's yield.
What our data shows
Our measurements record about $1.4B in total value locked across 9 chains, with roughly 3.9 years of on-chain history and two audits on record. That combination of multi-chain reach and a long track record is a notable strength. We did not find a dedicated public status page.
Risks to keep in mind
- Liquidation risk: falling collateral can be sold, usually with a penalty.
- Oracle risk: collateral valuation depends on external price feeds.
- Smart-contract risk: audits lower but do not remove the chance of bugs.
- Governance risk: supported collateral and parameters are set by governance.
Who is it for?
Compound V3 fits users who value a clean, well-understood borrowing model, particularly those borrowing a stablecoin against blue-chip collateral across several chains. It is a weaker fit for suppliers who want every asset in a pool to earn from borrowing, since the single-base-asset model changes how earning works.
We assess scale, audits, track record, chain reach, latency and status transparency. We do not measure interest rates, which vary with utilization; confirm them in the app.