The Defiant

MakerDAO's Real World Push Gains Moo-mentum with Aussie Beef Play 

Deal Shows Utility of DeFi in a Rough Week

By: Samuel Haig Loading...

MakerDAO's Real World Push Gains Moo-mentum with Aussie Beef Play 

It ain’t crypto, but MakeDAO is making strides in its push to finance off-chain business activities.

On May 9, one of the project’s vaults was used to finance a shipment of Australian beef to Hong Kong.

The transaction was executed in partnership with Centrifuge, a Polkadot and Ethereum-based protocol allowing users to finance the activities of real-world businesses with DAI. ConsolFreight, a trade finance provider operating on Centrifuge, minted DAI via Centrifuge’s Maker vault to finance the transaction.

Real World Utility

ConsolFreight also minted an NFT containing the shipment and invoice data for the transaction. The shipment and transaction are also being tracked using Mastercard’s blockchain traceability solution, Provenance.

The venture demonstrates the real world application of smart contracts and a stablecoin in an industry that is ripe for innovation: supply chains. It comes two months after Maker expanded the use of its DAI stablecoin as a vehicle to finance businesses operating with real-world assets (RWAs) to hedge against a potential crypto bear trend. MakerDAO’s project is a bright spot for stablecoins in a week when the UST disaster is dragging down the whole sector.

While crypto-native lending protocols quickly answered Maker’s call, MakerDAO’s partnership with Centrifuge is designed to win business outside the cryptocurrency sector.

DeFi Protocols Heed MakerDAO’s Call to Back DAI with Real-World Assets
DeFi Protocols Heed MakerDAO’s Call to Back DAI with Real-World Assets

DeFi Protocols Heed MakerDAO’s Call to Back DAI with Real-World Assets

Diversifying DAI’s backing outside of crypto could protect DAI from a crypto bear market.

The Defiant The Defiant

The transaction is detailed in a post published by ConsolFreight on MakerDAO’s forum. ConsolFreight described the post as the first of many regular updates now that it has begun to “continuously use [its] Maker vault.”

FreshSupplyco, an Australian supply chain digitization firm that uses Mastercard Provenance to track shipments globally, also participated in the deal.

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“To fill the need for alternative sources of capital and faster approvals, Mastercard and FreshSupplyCo approached Maker to explore options to meet the growing demand,” Maker said.

‘Beautiful Tech’

The transaction won applause Maker’s forum. Hajive of MakerDAO’s growth core unit team commented they are sure the pilot with Mastercard is “a first step of much bigger things to come.”

“Hopefully this is one of many exciting deals with all the involved parties as we showcase to the world that together we can provide proof-of-provenance and help scale supply chains with this beautiful tech,” added ElProgreso.

With some within the MakerDAO community having expressed skepticism regarding the protocol’s pivot to embrace real-world assets, social media reactions to the news were less bullish.

Twitter user randomishwalk sarcastically commented “so the RWA breakthrough was a… meat vault?” Hey_Johnno said “Thank god I dumped this s*%t coin beginning of April.”

“The RWA protocol transition to Proof of Steak has occurred successfully,” Lempheter tweeted.

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