“This is how DeFi should be designed,” Rune Christensen said.
One of the largest and longest-running DeFi protocols is gearing up for a major change, with MakerDAO, the largest collateralized debt protocol, set to launch new tokens next month.
On August 27, MakerDAO rebranded to Sky and announced that it would roll out its new stablecoin, USDS, and governance token, SKY, on September 18. The rebrand marks a major milestone in MakerDAO’s ambitious and controversial overhaul, “Endgame.”
“Sky represents the complete transformation of Maker, encompassing all the knowledge the organization has accumulated over the years,” MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen told The Defiant. “It addresses Maker’s problem: it wasn’t that accessible.”
Rebranding
Christensen said Sky’s rebranding was designed to provide a simpler user experience.
The rebranding was accompanied by the launch of a new website and app that will provide a front-end interface for Sky starting September 18. Maker will also roll out its new SKY and USDS governance token and stablecoin next month.
Maker’s existing DAI stablecoin and MKR governance token will continue to exist, with users able to upgrade their tokens to USDS and SKY voluntarily. Each MKR token can be upgraded to 24,000 SKY tokens, while DAI will be converted to USDS on an individual basis. Maker also plans to launch a SKY-issuing farm in the future.
The new front-end interface makes it easier to access new features, including “Token Activation Rewards” and the Sky Savings Rate (SSR).
To encourage usage, Sky will offer double SSR yields for the first month. While the protocol has not specified the annual percentage yield (APY) offered through SSR, the DAI savings rate currently stands at 6%.
DAI is currently the third-largest stablecoin with a market cap of $5.34 billion. MKR is the 53rd-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $1.93 billion. With MRK changing hands for over $2,000 per token, the SKY redenomination aims to make the asset more accessible to retail investors.
In May, Christensen said Maker would launch two new stablecoins as part of its Endgame rollout.
The stars of the sky
Maker also plans to rename its upcoming metaDAO ecosystem, with sub-DAOs now set to be called “Sky Stars” going forward.
Stars comprise independent decentralized projects performing specialized operations within the MakerDAO ecosystem. Stars will have their own economic model, token, governance, and treasury. Users will be able to mine tokens issued by Stars using USDS.
“Stars are the central pillar of scaling,” he said. “Think of them as L2s for governance, allowing parallel communities to specialize in different areas. Stars should be allowed to fail, allowing for experimentation with riskier ideas.”
The first Sky Star is Spark, the DAI-focused lending protocol. After the rebrand, Spark’s SparkLend protocol will allow users to provide cryptocurrencies as collateral to borrow USDS.
Read more: MKR steps up after Grayscale MakerDAO Trust launch
