MakerDAO (now Sky)

Primary Nature
One of DeFi's earliest and largest DAOs — governs the DAI/USDS stablecoin protocol and its multi-billion-dollar collateral reserve. Rebranded from MakerDAO to Sky in September 2024 as part of its “Endgame Plan” restructuring, converting the MKR governance token to a new SKY token.
Core Philosophy
Decentralized, over-collateralized stablecoin issuance. The Endgame Plan aims to decentralize further by spinning out semi-autonomous “Sky Stars” subDAOs, each with its own governance token, product focus, and treasury, while remaining tied to the core protocol through shared reserves and USDS integration.
Governance & Voting
SKY (formerly MKR) token-weighted on-chain voting — governance polls and executive votes. Community reception to the rebrand itself was mixed: only a small minority of MKR holders had converted to SKY as of the migration window, prompting the community to hold a call and vote on whether to revert the branding.
Financial & Treasury Tools
USDS stablecoin supply scaled from roughly $100M to over $2.3B between the September 2024 launch and early 2025, ranking among the top three stablecoins by market cap by January 2025.
Legal & Tax Architecture
No single unified legal wrapper for the DAO itself — governance is executed entirely through on-chain SKY voting and subDAO “Star” governance tokens, the first of which is the Spark protocol.
Technology Interface
On-chain governance polls and executive votes via the Sky/Maker governance forum; subDAO “Star” architecture for specialized product lines.
Pricing Model
N/A — a protocol/DAO, not a tool with a pricing tier; revenue comes from stability fees on collateralized loans, liquidation penalties, and yield from deployed reserve assets.