In a transfer to bolster the utilization and adoption of its decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform, MakerDAO is present process a big rebranding. The lending protocol, based by Rune Christensen in 2014, will now be often known as ‘Sky’, a shift aimed toward interesting to a wider person base.
MakerDAO Reinvents Itself As ‘Sky’
MakerDAO was one of many earliest functions within the DeFi area, permitting customers to commerce, lend, and borrow digital belongings straight with out conventional monetary intermediaries.
As Bloomberg stories, the platform’s success within the early days of crypto earned it a loyal following among the many trade’s most seasoned members, the so-called “OGs” or “authentic gangsters.”
Associated Studying
Nonetheless, like many DeFi initiatives, MakerDAO has confronted challenges lately, with its whole worth locked (TVL) peaking at $20 billion in 2021 earlier than declining within the wake of the broader crypto market downturn.
As well as, the market capitalization of its DAI stablecoin, a key platform part, dropped from its highs of round $10 billion earlier this yr.
Christensen acknowledged that whereas MakerDAO had discovered “strong footing” throughout the core crypto neighborhood, the true problem was “the way to change into extra interesting and accessible to the mass market.” This realization has led to the choice to rebrand the platform as Sky.
New Reward-Bearing Tokens
In accordance with Bloomberg, Sky will launch two new tokens on September 18 as a part of the rebranding effort. Present holders of MakerDAO’s MKR and DAI tokens can improve to the brand new upcoming USDS and SKY tokens, which is able to provide reward-based incentives for merely holding the belongings throughout the Sky ecosystem.
The brand new Sky.cash app, additionally set to debut on September 18th, would be the major platform for accessing these new tokens and the related rewards.
Christensen emphasised that the prevailing MKR and DAI tokens will stay in circulation, permitting customers to proceed utilizing them if they like, as the brand new tokens are primarily focused at attracting new customers to the platform.
Associated Studying
The rebranding initiative is a part of MakerDAO’s Endgame Plan, a roadmap ratified in 2022 that goals to extend the protocol’s resilience and drive accelerated development.
Christensen expressed the hope that the Sky rebrand will assist DeFi “cease feeling like crypto and begin feeling like finance acquired loads higher,” emphasizing the deal with highlighting the advantages and ease of use over the “constraints which have traditionally deterred mainstream adoption.”
On the time of writing, MKR is buying and selling at $2,123 following the information of the protocol’s rebranding, persevering with a ten% surge up to now week. This outperforms the most important cryptocurrencies available on the market, reminiscent of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which recorded losses in the identical interval.
Featured picture from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
