Balancer is an automated market maker ([AMM](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/automated-market-maker-amm)) that was developed on the Ethereum blockchain and launched in March 2020. It was able to raise a $3M seed round by Placeholder and Accomplice. [Balancer protocol](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-balancer) functions as a self-balancing weighted portfolio, price sensor and liquidity provider. It allows users to earn profits through its recently introduced token ($BAL) by contributing to customizable liquidity pools.
To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of [Balancer](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-balancer.
The protocol operates a few types of pools:
* Private pools give the owner governance over the pool, and make the person the sole contributor of liquidity to the pool. Also, all the parameters are mutable by the owner.
* Shared pools are for those who want to become [liquidity providers](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-provider) (LPs). The LPs are rewarded with the Balancer Pool Tokens (BPTs).
* Smart pools are similar to private pools but are controlled by a smart contract. They also reward using BPTs and allow anyone to contribute liquidity to the pool.