How MakerDAO's major rebranding impacts the protocol and its token?
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How MakerDAO's major rebranding impacts the protocol and its token?
Become Sky, rename to DAI, split MKR, significantly increase centralization, possibly launch staking mining program, and subDAO explicitly granted rights to issue tokens.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Nan Zhi, Odaily Planet Daily
Yesterday, MakerDAO officially announced its rebranding to Sky, with its centralized stablecoin DAI renamed to USDS and MKR set to be split and upgraded into SKY. This article by Odaily provides a summary and analysis of the details behind MakerDAO’s rebranding.
Official Announcement Explained
The new tokens for the Sky Protocol—SKY and USDS—are defined by the team as upgraded versions of MKR and DAI, aiming to become the optimal protocol for earning yield while ensuring users retain control. Specifically:
Governance Token SKY
Six days prior, in a MakerDAO announcement, the team stated: "The renaming of the new governance token is intended to promote broader governance participation. It allows more users to hold significant amounts of NewGovToken and actively influence the ecosystem's future."
Thus, the new governance token SKY will be distributed via a token split: each MKR will be upgraded into 24,000 SKY. At the time of writing, MKR trades at approximately 1950 USDT, implying a post-split price of about 0.08125 USDT per SKY.
Sky notes that users can obtain SKY tokens by supplying USDS to the Sky Protocol via its official website, Sky.money, although specific details and metrics for this mechanism have not yet been released. This marks a major departure from MKR, which previously could only be minted during debt auctions when collateral in the Dai system was insufficient—aside from initial pre-mines and investor allocations.
Stablecoin USDS
USDS can be obtained through a 1:1 exchange from DAI. Additionally, the official team stated that users may also swap ETH, USDC, and USDT for USDS on the official website. The exchange function will go live in 21 days (September 18).
The Sky Protocol has launched a “Double Rewards Qualification” campaign for SKY. Users who complete minor social media tasks and sign using the wallet they intend to deposit with can qualify. Once the exchange opens in 21 days, users providing USDS to the Sky token rewards module will be eligible for incentives.
Shift Toward Centralization
Notably, Sam MacPherson, CEO of Spark Protocol, stated that USDS—the upgraded version of DAI—will feature a freezing capability, which DAI previously lacked. In comparison, centralized stablecoins such as USDT and USDC already possess such functionality. This means DAI is no longer a decentralized stablecoin; given its yield-bearing mechanism, it is more accurately classified as an RWA (Real World Assets) product.
Additionally, Sky emphasized in its announcement that the aforementioned SKY Double Rewards Qualification campaign (referred to in terms as the X Activation campaign) is not available to users in the United States jurisdiction.
Odaily found further centralization-related restrictions in the Sky Protocol legal terms, including:
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Geographic Restrictions: Users must not reside in, be located in, or be incorporated or have a registered office in any of the following countries or regions: Afghanistan, Belarus, Myanmar, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Nicaragua, Niger, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Darfur, Syria, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Ukraine, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. MakerDAO founder Rune reiterated these jurisdictional limitations in a Cointelegraph report.
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Transaction Restrictions with Sanctioned Parties: Users must ensure they do not transact with any individual sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), or under EU or UK regulations.
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Prohibition on Use of VPNs: Users must not use VPN software, proxy servers, or any other privacy or anonymous tools or technologies to circumvent any service restrictions, particularly those limiting geographic availability.
Other Impacts
For regular users, changes in the token structure and increased centralization may have minimal immediate impact on user experience. However, based on historical precedent, the token split could trigger secondary market speculation, potentially being the most significant effect for average users.
The most critical impact of this upgrade on other protocols is that MakerDAO’s subDAOs will now gain the right to issue their own tokens—with Spark Protocol, the first subDAO, likely to be the first to launch one.
Specifically, MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen told Cointelegraph that Maker subDAOs will become Sky Stars, continuing as independent decentralized projects that connect to the Sky ecosystem through unique business models and autonomy. Each Sky Star will be able to independently launch governance tokens, manage its finances and community, and execute DAO-specific decisions autonomously.
This initiative aims to enable innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking through Sky Stars, while the core Sky Protocol focuses on maintaining the value and security of the USDS stablecoin.
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