Compound Decentralized Frontend
TL;DR
AlphaGrowth in cooperation with the WOOF! Team introduces a decentralized frontend for Compound V3 that is called to solve a number of issues and further innovate on top of the existing frontend experience: https://app.compound.finance/.
Core Contributors: Tatiana Colligan @dmitriywoofsoftware @pashabergman @Nextosi @rossgates @Kyril @Olha @bryancolligan
WHY?
The experience on the website today should be optimized to provide clarity for web2 users and beginner web3 users looking to earn money through DeFi, while continuing to serve existing compound.finance users.
Areas of Improvement
Tech
A Centralized Frontend has led to security vulnerabilities and regulatory risk.
In the last year, the existing Compound frontend suffered a phishing attack:
Such incidents do not put Compound’s brand in a good light.
A Centralized Frontend is a liability for a Decentralized protocol.
DeFi Protocols do not operate within any specific jurisdiction – Protocols are code, which is deployed to a global network, and can be accessed by anybody.
A decentralized frontend, which can be hosted by a peer 2 peer network, is censorship resistant and always available.
Many leading DeFi Protocols use decentralized frontends. We have taken these ideas, and iterated on them – developing something truly innovative and worthy of the Compound Brand.
UX/UI
-
The Dashboard today only reflects supplied or borrowed funds when the correct chain is selected within the connected wallet.
Compound continues to deploy on multiple chains, running incentive campaigns as we expand. Advanced users can have dozens of chains in their wallet, and the current experience makes it difficult to remember which assets were supplied. -
Lending and Borrowing experiences are combined in one flow, which makes it harder to understand performance of marketing campaigns.
Our experience with growth campaigns shows that the Borrow and Lending sides of the protocol – while interdependent, must be managed as two separate user experiences.
Borrowing and Lending each have different users, with their own risk appetites, and methods of managing their portfolios. Providing granular control on campaign performance, and incentive distribution will help further Compound’s efforts toward growth. -
Absence of a guided Borrow CTA.
When attempting to borrow funds today, the user has to “guess” that they need to provide some collateral first. There is no guided experience for what needs to be supplied, and no messaging on whether or not the wallet has the right collateral.
SEO
Without proper SEO optimization Compound is losing thousands of potential users, who would have arrived via organic search traffic:
“Lend crypto” keyword, search result position (in Chrome):
- AAVE: 1st page
- Compound: 13th page
“Borrow crypto” keyword, search result position (in Chrome):
- AAVE: 2nd page
- Compound: 8th page
Aligned with Compound’s Principles
Compound is a leader in DeFi.
In deploying our decentralized frontend, and its hosting network, Compound will become a leader in DeFi frontend infrastructure as well.
After bringing together the above considerations into our design, we are proud to introduce the next logical step forward for Compound’s Frontend.
Introducing The New Frontend
Tech
(Built by Nexosi):
Peer 2 Peer Hosting Infrastructure:
The frontend that can be hosted by a peer 2 peer network, is censorship resistant, always available, and protected against adversarial attacks and regulatory risk.
Official Version Tracking:
Built into the frontend, which allows the DAO to safely make updates to the most recent version, and have those updates distributed to hosts.
(Built by WOOF!)
API Calls Excluded:
Calls for any APIs are excluded. All market information is gathered directly from on-chain using public RPCs. Multicall and other optimization techniques are used to optimize the upload time.
Type of price feeds:
Types of the price feeds along with the price feed addresses can be easily found and validated. This is crucial for LSTs/LRTs, where Compound markets’ are used for looping.
Support of new wallets:
OKX wallet and Rabbi wallet are supported right out of the box, in addition to all previously available wallets.
Rewards V2:
Ability to incentivize users not only in COMP token but in any other asset.
Exclusive markets:
USDe/Mantle market
RPC Switching:
Ability to choose which RPC to use. The default options will be public RPCs. However, users can switch to an RPC used by connected wallets, or manually add their own.
On-chain tracking and traffic attribution:
Important step to have more granular control for tracking and incentive distribution for Growth Campaigns.
Enhanced flexibility to community feedback, while integrating new features.
UX/UI
Overview of positions across all chains in a glance:
The new dashboard reflects all lending and borrowing positions of the user independently of the chain selected at this moment.
Two separate flows for Lending and Borrowing experiences:
Separate user experiences for Borrowing and Lending makes it easier for new users to navigate and learn the interface.
*The Markets page still remains available for interest rate arbitrageurs.
New built-in aggregated statistics:
Now, users will be able to see their total amount supplied, total amount borrowed, and total amount earned – over all markets.
SEO
SEO optimization:
The new website is SEO optimized to help attract new users who are searching for ways to lend and borrow crypto online.
A Culture of NodeRunners:
Ethereum is built on top of a culture of NodeRunners, and Decentralization Maximalists. Earning rewards for running a node for the Compound Frontend is a great narrative, and a fun way to participate in DeFi.
Everything we do is an attempt to increase the cultural footprint of Compound.
Combine this with a greater synergy between the frontend, and the growth department, and we ought to see greater efficiency with incentives, campaign outreach, and more people using Compound to manage their assets.
The Decentralized Frontend is going into open beta around the middle of December. For now, we are sharing with service providers, and amongst our team, preparing systems for launch.