Two U.S based cryptocurrency platforms where users can obtain loans are BlockFi and Compound. BlockFi was founded in 2017 by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez. They are headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey and have offices in New York, Argentina, Singapore and Poland. Compound was started by Compound Labs Inc. in 2018 and is based in San Francisco, California. We will take a look at Compound Finance vs BlockFi and compare different aspects of the platforms to enable potential users to decide which best meets their requirements.
BlockFi is a centralized crypto banking platform. As can be seen in a BlockFi review, they offer a full range of cryptocurrency services to users. These services include crypto backed loans, interest earning crypto accounts, a credit card and a cryptocurrency exchange for buying, selling and trading digital coins. Their platform supports 48 different cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. New users who enter a BlockFi bonus code when they sign up, and who meet eligibility requirements can earn a reward in Bitcoin.
Compound is a decentralized crypto lending platform that allows users to borrow funds using their cryptocurrency as collateral. In addition, investors can deposit their crypto assets and earn interest on the deposited digital coins. The Compound platform is built on the Ethereum blockchain and has its own native governance token, COMP. There are 19 cryptocurrencies and stablecoins supported on Compound’s platform.
Most DeFi platforms use Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending similar to what can be seen in our BTCPop review. However, at Compound, rather than lenders and borrowers connecting directly with each other, investors lend their assets to a liquidity pool which other users can borrow cryptocurrencies from. The liquidity pool is actually a series of smart contracts that match borrowers to available crypto assets and transfer interest payments from borrowers to lenders.
BlockFi Features:
Compound Features:
The following table provides a brief summary of the BlockFi and Compound features.
| Feature | BlockFi | Compound |
| Crypto Loans | Offers loans in U.S, dollars, USDC or GUSD. Accepts Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Pax Gold (PAXG) as collateral | Loans available in 19 cryptocurrencies including USDC, DAI, USDT and ETH. 19 cryptocurrencies accepted as collateral including DAI ETH, LINK, TUSD, UNI and USDC |
| Interest Earning Accounts | Earn interest on 48 different cryptocurrencies | Earn interest on 19 different cryptocurrencies |
| Cryptocurrency Exchange | Buy, sell and trade 48 different cryptocurrencies | No |
| Credit Card | Yes | No |
| Native Token | No | COMP |
BlockFi provides loans at three different interest rates based on the LTV of the loan. At Compound you can borrow 19 different crypto currencies. Interest rates are different for each digital token and may vary during the period of the loan. The following table shows BlockFi rates on loans and rates for 10 different cryptocurrencies at Compound at the time of this writing.
| BlockFi Loan Interest Rates | Compound Loan Interest Rates |
| 50% LTV: 9.75% | USD Coin (USDC): 2.33% |
| 35% LTV: 7.9% | Ethereum (ETH): 2.84% |
| 20% LTV: 4.5% | Dai (DAI): 2.47% |
| Tether (USDT): 3.43% | |
| Uniswap (UNI): 5.09% | |
| TrueUSD (TUSD): 3.67% | |
| Ox (ZRX): 3.16% | |
| Maker (MKR): 4% | |
| Pax Dollar (USDP): 1.92% | |
| Chainlink (LINK): 3.58% |
Looking at Compound vs BlockFi loan interest rates, Compound generally has the lower rates. However, borrowers should keep in mind that compound rates are variable while those at BlockFi are fixed.
At both BlockFi and Compound, interest earning rates vary depending on the cryptocurrency. The following table compares interest earning rates for 10 cryptocurrencies they have in common.
| Cryptocurrency | BlockFi Interest Rate | Compound Interest Rate |
| Aave (AAVE) | 3% | 0.16% |
| Compound (COMP) | 3% | 4.89% |
| Dai (DAI) | 0 to 20000 DAI: 6.00% 20000 to 2,000,000 DAI: 4.00% Over 2,000,000 DAI: 3.50% | 2.47% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 0 to 1.5 ETH: 3.5% 1.5 to 5 ETH: 2.0% Over 5 ETH: 2.0% | 2.84% |
| Chainlink (LINK) | 0 to 100 LINK: 1.00% 100 to 500 LINK: 0.20% Over 500 LINK: 0.10% | 0.10% |
| Uniswap (UNI) | 0 to 100 UNI: 3.00% 100 to 500 UNI: 2.00% Over 500 UNI: 2.00% | 0.33% |
| USD Coin (USDC) | 0 to 20000 USDC: 8.5% 20000 to 2,000,000 USDC: 7.5% Over 2,000,000: 7.5% | 0.79% |
| Tether (USDT) | 0 to 20,000 USDT: 8.75% 20,000 to 5,000,000 USDT:8.00% Over 5000000 USDT: 8.00% | 1.7% |
| yearn.finance (YFI) | 3% | 4.76% |
| Maker (MKR) | 3% | 0.15% |
In most cases BlockFi has better rates on interest earning accounts than the rates paid at Compound.
BlockFi supports 48 different cryptocurrencies.
| Bitcoin (BTC) | ETH (ETH) | Binance Coin (BNB) |
| Gala (GALA) | OMG Network (OMG) | Paxos Standard (PAX) |
| Polkadot (DOT) | Dogecoin (DOGE) | Avalanche (AVAX) |
| Polygon (MATIC) | FTX Token (FTT) | Cosmos (ATOM) |
| Litecoin (LTC) | Chainlink (LINK) | Dai (DAI) |
| Algorand (ALGO) | Tron (TRX) | Bitcoin Cash (BCH) |
| Fantom (FTM) | Uniswap (UNI) | Enjin (ENJ) |
| Axie Infinity (AXS) | Hedera (HBAR) | Filecoin (FIL) |
| EOS (EOS) | The Sandbox (SAND) | Tezos (XTZ) |
| Aave (AAVE) | Maker (MKR) | 1inch Network (1INCH) |
| Loopring (LRC) | Graph Token (GRT) | Chiliz (CHZ) |
| Decentraland (MANA) | Compound (COMP) | yearn.finance (YFI) |
| Serum (SRM) | Basic Attention Token (BAT) | Curve DAO (CRV) |
| Cardano (ADA) | Solano (SOL) | SushiSwap (SUSHI) |
| Tether (USDT) | USD Coin (USDC) | Binance USD (BUSD) |
| Near Protocol (NEAR) | Gemini dollar (GUSD) | Pax Gold (PAXG) |
BlockFi also supports the fiat currency USD.
Compound supports 19 different cryptocurrencies.
| Aave (AAVE) | Compound (COMP) | Dai (DAI) | Ethereum (ETH) |
| Wrapped BTC (WBTC) | Chainlink (LINK) | TrueUSD (TUSD) | Uniswap (UNI) |
| USD Coin (USDC) | Pax Dollar (USDP) | Tether (USDT) | SushiToken (SUSHI) |
| yearn.finance (YFI) | Ox (ZRX) | Sai (SAI) | Maker (MKR) |
| Basic Attention Token (BAT) | Auger v1 (REP) | Fei USD (FEI) |
There are no fiat currencies supported by Compound.
BlockFi uses Two-Factor Authentication and white listing among other security measures. Their cryptocurrency assets are stored with Gemini, with 95% of their assets being stored offline. Cryptocurrency stored online is insured by Gemini.
Compound stores most crypto assets in multi-signature cold storage wallets. All contract code and balances are publicly verifiable. The Compound protocol has been audited and verified for security by Trail of Bits and OpenZeppelin. There is also a bug bounty of up to $150,000 for discoveries that can prevent the loss of assets, the freezing of assets, or harm to users.
BlockFi charges a 2% origination fee on their loans which is fairly standard for centralized platforms. In addition, there is a cryptocurrency withdrawal fee after the first cryptocurrency and stablecoin withdrawal each month which varies depending on the cryptocurrency being withdrawn.
The only fees at Compound are the standard gas fees charged by the network
To open an account at BlockFi users only need to provide their legal name, an email address and password but they will have to complete a KYC verification process to use the services. The platform itself is intuitive and easy to use and beginners should have no problems.
There is no registration or KYC verification at Compound. Experienced cryptocurrency traders and users should have little difficulty but the site isn’t beginner friendly. To start using Compound you just have to connect your wallet to the Compound desktop app.
BlockFi offers a mobile app for Android and iOS devices which can be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Just like the desktop version, BlockFi’s mobile app is easy to use and allows you to use all the services just as you would on a desktop.
Compound doesn’t offer a mobile app.
BlockFi can be accessed by users in most counties around the world except for those countries sanctioned by the U.S., EU and UK. However, new users from the U.S aren’t able to open interest earning accounts. Accounts opened before Feb 14, 2024 can be maintained.
Compound is available in most countries except those sanctioned by the U.S., U.K and EU.
BlockFi provides users with a non-interest-earning custodial wallet. Users are able to buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies on the platform using the provided wallet.
Compound doesn’t provide wallets for users. There are a number of different Ethereum wallets users can use to connect to Compound. These include Metamask, Ledger, Wallet Connect, Coinbase Wallet and Tally
BlockFi Pros:
BlockFi Cons:
Compound Pros:
Compound Cons:
BlockFi and Compound are both good platforms for crypto backed loans and earning interest on cryptocurrencies. Compound’s rates for loans are generally lower, but rates are variable and you can’t borrow fiat currency. BlockFi’s loan rates are fixed and you borrow US dollars. In addition, BlockFi has higher rates on interest earning accounts, supports more digital coins and has a crypto exchange. Ultimately the best choice will depend on individual needs.
Table of Contents
BlockFi and Compound are crypto lending platforms that allow users to borrow funds with no credit check by using their cryptocurrency as collateral. Both platforms also enable users to earn interest on digital coins they have deposited to the respective platform.
BlockFi is a centralized platform which manages all aspects of user’s crypto backed loans and interest earning accounts. Compound is a decentralized platform built on the Ethereum blockchain that uses smart contracts to manage crypto borrowing and lending.
BlockFi and Compound are both available in most countries except those sanctioned by the U.S., U.K. and EU. Some of BlockFi’s services are restricted in some countries. For example, U.S. users can’t open interest earning accounts.
