CreamPrice

(CREAM)

Cream Finance is a decentralized lending protocol originally forked from Compound Finance. It allows users to lend and borrow assets, provide liquidity, and earn rewards across multiple blockchain networks like Ethereum, Polygon, and Fantom. The name is an acronym for "Crypto Rules Everything Around Me," a reference to a classic Wu-Tang Clan track. It was founded by Jeffrey Huang, a prominent entrepreneur in the blockchain and NFT space.

The protocol distinguishes itself by supporting "long-tail" assets—smaller, more volatile tokens that are often excluded from larger lending platforms. It also features the "Iron Bank," which serves as a protocol-to-protocol lending arm. This allows whitelisted partners to borrow funds without requiring collateral. Additionally, the project maintains a close technical relationship with the Yearn Finance ecosystem to share development resources and liquidity.

The protocol experienced significant security challenges in 2021, including a major flash loan attack involving a price oracle vulnerability. To address these issues, the development team implemented new security measures and integrated oracle redundancies to prevent similar exploits. The community and team also worked on strategies to manage bad debt resulting from these events to maintain the protocol's integrity and protect its remaining users.

CREAM is the native utility token used for staking, collateral, and governance voting. iceCREAM is a specialized governance token earned by staking and "locking" CREAM for a set period, ranging up to four years. The longer a user locks their CREAM, the more iceCREAM they accumulate. This mechanism provides users with increased voting power and a greater share of rewards, encouraging long-term commitment to the protocol's decision-making process.

The Iron Bank is a key component of Cream Finance that focuses on institutional and protocol-to-protocol lending. Unlike standard decentralized lending where individuals must provide collateral, the Iron Bank allows pre-approved, whitelisted protocols to borrow assets directly. This creates a highly capital-efficient environment for decentralized applications to manage liquidity and leverage shared resources across the ecosystem without the traditional constraints of over-collateralization.

While the protocol is often categorized as a "legacy" DeFi project, it remains fully functional and accessible on several blockchains. Development and governance continue, even though the level of total value locked has decreased from its historical peaks. Because of its unique history and specialized asset support, it remains a point of interest for experienced DeFi users. The token continues to be available for participants on major platforms like LBank who are interested in its governance and utility.