Sky

Sky is the governance token of Sky Protocol, the rebranded and restructured successor to MakerDAO — one of the oldest and most important protocols in decentralized finance. MakerDAO launched in 2015 and pioneered the decentralized, over-collateralized stablecoin with DAI, a token soft-pegged to the US dollar and backed by crypto collateral locked in smart contracts. In August 2024, following founder Rune Christensen's multi-year 'Endgame' plan, MakerDAO rebranded to Sky and introduced a new stablecoin, USDS (the 'Sky Dollar'), alongside a new governance token, SKY, intended to sit beside — and eventually succeed — DAI and MKR.

The upgrade is optional and reversible. Holders can convert MKR to SKY at a fixed rate of 1 MKR to 24,000 SKY, and DAI to USDS at 1:1, while the original MKR and DAI remain fully usable. SKY holders govern the protocol — voting on which assets can be used as collateral, on risk parameters, and on the Sky Savings Rate, the yield paid to users who hold USDS in the protocol's savings module. The Endgame plan also spins specialized sub-projects, called 'Sky Stars', out of the core protocol; the first was the Spark lending protocol.

Uptake of the token upgrade has been gradual — a large share of MKR stayed unconverted in the months after launch — and both the legacy Maker tokens and the new Sky tokens continue to circulate side by side. Whether measured as Maker or Sky, the system remains one of the largest decentralized stablecoin issuers in crypto.