
Rune Chistensen, creator of Sky (MakerDAO), wants to solve the problem of rebranding his protocol, looking for a point where the community and the project can move forward in a more unified way.
Sky, the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) protocol formerly known as MakerDAO, has announced is considering making changes to its brand identity. This decision is made after evaluating community feedback on the initial rebranding.
Recall that MakerDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) behind the DAI stablecoin, is transformed into Sky earlier this year. The rebranding allowed DAI holders to upgrade their tokens to the new stablecoin called Sky Dollar (USDS), and MKR governance token holders to upgrade to the SKY token at a ratio of 1:24.000.
Despite these changes, Sky founder Rune Christensen has acknowledged that many community members have expressed reservations about the utility of the SKY token and have shown a preference to hold their MKR tokens.
The confusion and challenge of the new brand
Faced with this situation, Rune Christensen has admitted that the use of “Sky” as the name for the protocol, token, and user interface has added some confusion. After all, MakerDAO’s name is a difficult one to erase from the crypto ecosystem, as it has a long history and has demonstrated the power of DAOs to manage complex economic systems, such as the decentralized stablecoin DAI.
He also acknowledged that the new rewards systems and protocol features may have been difficult for some members of the community to follow. Despite these challenges, the USDS stablecoin has surpassed a total supply of $1000 billion just two weeks after its launch, and has already been integrated into major DeFi protocols such as Aave, Ethena, and Morpho. However, the community continues to show a strong attachment to the Maker brand, leading Christensen to pose a surprising possibility: refocus rebranding while maintaining separate roles for Maker and Sky.
Three options for the future of Sky
In this way, Rune Christensen has presented three options for the community:
- Continue building with Sky as a core brand: This option involves moving forward with Sky’s current brand identity, while maintaining focus on the development of the SKY protocol and token.
- Reintroduce Maker as the core identity in its original form: This option involves returning to the MakerDAO brand as it was before the rebrand, restoring the MKR token and DAI stablecoin as core elements of the project.
- Refocus Maker as the core brand, but with minor changes: This option seeks to maintain the essence of MakerDAO, but with minor adjustments to better align the brand with USDS and the subDAOs known as Stars. These changes could include adjustments to the tokenomics and governance structure.
To address these options and gather community feedback, Sky has scheduled a community call this Friday, October 25. Christensen has assured that after the call, he will incorporate all feedback and propose implementing the chosen idea as a «Atlas Edit» which will be put to a vote starting on October 28th. If the proposal is approved, a multiple choice poll will be conducted the week of November 4th. If the community decides on another rebrand, the protocol will consider further changes to tokenomics as next steps.
The importance of community participation
The decision to consider a rebranding once again underlines the importance of community involvement in DeFi projects. In a decentralized ecosystem, decisions about the direction of the project cannot be made unilaterally by founders or developers.
Community feedback and consensus are critical to ensuring that the project remains relevant and engaging for its users. In the case of Sky, the community has demonstrated its commitment and desire to influence the future of the project, leading to this rebranding.
The role of Maker and Sky in the DeFi ecosystem
In any case, a new page of history in the DeFi ecosystem is about to be written. After all, MakerDAO has been one of the fundamental pieces of the DeFi ecosystem since its creation. The DAI stablecoin has been widely adopted and has played a crucial role in the stability and liquidity of many DeFi applications.
Maker’s transformation into Sky has sought to modernize and expand the project, but it has also raised challenges in terms of identity and utility. If the community decides to return to the Maker brand, it will be interesting to see how new elements of the Sky protocol, such as USDS and subDAOs, are integrated into the original MakerDAO structure.