(Bloomberg) -- MakerDAO, one of the best known and oldest decentralized finance applications, will be called Sky under a rebranding effort seeking to bolster usage of the crypto lending platform.
Rune Christensen launched MakerDAO in 2014, making it one of the earliest apps in DeFi, where users can trade, lend and borrow directly from each other, without using intermediaries like banks. The lending app gained a following among the earliest crypto adopters, known as OGs, or original gangsters. In recent years, even banks such as Societe Generale and Huntington Valley Bank used it to test the DeFi waters. And MakerDAO made waves with investments in US Treasuries.
But along with other DeFi projects, MakerDAO got hurt in the last crypto downturn. The platform’s total value locked peaked in 2021, at $20 billion, but had dropped off since and never recovered, and currently stands at $4.8 billion according to data tracker DeFiLlama. Market capitalization of DAI, a stablecoin connected to the app, is about half of the $10 billion it was at in early 2022, according to CoinMarketCap.
All DeFi apps have struggled to grow, partly as many crypto users have been going elsewhere. Many mom-and-pop investors have found it much easier to hold Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds that debuted in the US this year. Mainstream users often find DeFi apps too complex and hard to use. Sky is hoping to change that.
“Maker was already very successful, it landed solidly with the core OG community,” Christensen said in an interview. “But the real question was, how do you become more appealing and available to the mass market?”
Along with the Sky brand, MakerDAO is rolling out two new tokens, which holders of its existing tokens, MKR and DAI, can switch to. When deposited onto the Sky platform, such as through the new sky.money app, launching on Sept. 18 along with the tokens — the new tokens will earn users rewards simply for holding them. And both tokens can earn rewards in Sky-ecosystem projects — called Stars — to be launched in the coming months.
Rewards won’t be available in all jurisdictions, such as the US. Sky.money will be run independently, by Skybase International, whose background and backers are expected to be disclosed by Sept. 18.
Both the DAI and MKR tokens will remain in existence, with users having the option to upgrade their tokens to USDS and SKY voluntarily — or to switch back to DAI or MKR. Christensen doesn’t expect many MKR and DAI users to upgrade to the new tokens.
“If you are happy with what you are using, why upgrade,” he said, pointing out that the new coins are mainly targeted at new users.
The rebranding is a part of MakerDAO’s Endgame Plan, which was ratified in 2022. The plan proposes to dramatically change the protocol to make it more resilient and to rev up its growth.
“DeFi should stop feeling like crypto and should start feeling like finance got a lot better,” Christensen said. “It should be more about the benefits versus constraints. The launch of Sky is the first major step.”
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