DeFi's Central Bank is Becoming "Much Cooler"

Hello defiers! The major news in decentralized finance right now is MakerDAO’s upgrade into Multi-Collateral Dai, so I’m dedicating today’s Defiant to this development and why it matters.

Before I get into that, just a quick note: I was interviewed about DeFi at the Shift Money conference in Zagreb today, and it reminded me that most people even in fintech have no idea about this space. To me, it’s becoming increasingly clear that we’re witnessing the birth of the Internet of money and it’s wild that even those most likely to either be disrupted by it, or would benefit from it, aren’t paying attention. This inspired me to make today’s newsletter more accessible to the non-DeFi-fluent. Readers: Let me know if you like this pace/level of writing for future editions.

If you’re receiving this email, it means you’re a subscriber: First of all Thank You! You Rock :) Second, read til the end because I have a special treat form you, curtesy of RealT.

MakerDAO is Now “Much Cooler”

The DeFi central bank had a major overhaul yesterday.

MakerDAO yesterday upgraded its system to Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD), or as some would rather say, “Much Cooler Dai.” This means it now accepts collateral other than ETH to back Dai, its stablecoin. Dai in the old system is now called Single-Collateral Dai, or Sai. The collateral deposits, which were called Collateralized-Debt Positions in the old system, are now called “Vaults.” With this, the project’s vision from when it was first conceived in 2014 is being realized.

Why Does Dai Matter

Dai is an Ethereum-based ERC20 token, whose value is pegged at 1-to-1 to the dollar ($1 USD = 1 Dai). It’s backed by cryptocurrencies (up until Sunday, just ETH), not by government-issued currencies, which means it doesn’t rely on banks or regulators and it’s auditable in real time. It maintains its peg because it’s overcollateralized, which protects it against cryptocurrency’s volatility. Its monetary policy is decided by token holders, not by one centralized entity.

This means that anyone, anywhere can own an asset that’s pegged to the dollar, regardless of their local government’s or financial system’s policies and laws, and without needing to trust them. Dai can then be the gateway into a wide range of financial services, like earning interest and trading.

Image Source: sai2dai.xyz

Why Does MCD Matter

So why would MCD be much cooler. More types of collateral will in theory make the system more liquid and stable. The premise is that with just ether as collateral, Dai would always be limited by the amount of ETH in circulation. Also, it would be too reliant on ETH’s ups and downs and survival. If ETH suddenly lost most of its value, Dai would have to do an emergency shutdown. In the new system, liquidity constraints are loosened and collateral diversification should provide greater stability.

Brave browser’s BAT is the second collateral accepted after ETH. MKR token holders will vote on which other assets will be added. Right now, it’s arguable how much liquidity and stability tokens like BAT or Augur’s REP, which is in the running to become the third collateral type, actually add to the system. They’re both less liquid and more volatile than ETH. But they should be the first step in a bigger picture, where many different asset types are added.

Aside from the multi-collateral part, another major change is that DeFi users will get another option to put their money to work with the Dai Savings Rate, or DSR. MakerDAO now offers the ability for users to start earning interest on their Dai, within the Maker system –the interface to do this is a Dex called Oasis. Previously, you could earn interest on Dai by depositing it in other platforms like Compound, but Maker didn’t offer this option itself. There is no minimum deposit required, no fees, and users can withdraw their funds at any time.

Main Stats

One day after the upgrade, these are some of the main stats, thanks to https://sai2dai.xyz/bySimone Conti and Emiliano Bonassi and https://daistats.com/by Mariano Conti:

• Sai supply, which surpassed 100 million two weeks ago in a major milestone for the space, slid to 97.9 million as people migrated 7.6% of the supply to Dai. As a result, Dai supply is now 7.4 million.
• The great majority, or 7.1 million, of Dai is coming from ETH, while about 270k is coming from BAT. While small, it’s a good sign for the system that people are already using BAT as collateral one day after migration. The makeup is: 96% ETH, 3% BAT, 1 % SAI.
• Just 8.4 % of total Dai, or about 620k, is in earning interest in DSR.
• 829 vaults have been opened.

Actions to Take

If you own Sai, you have the option to start migrating to Dai. There are many tutorials on how. I recommend Chris Blec’s video and Trust Wallet’s blog post.

It’s not hard to do, but I can’t help but wonder, is it sustainable for DeFi to expect so much work from users? Granted, migrating is far from rocket science, but it does require an active user base, who knows what’s going on, and wants to take those precious minutes off their day to do this. Maybe in the future there will be (or should be) a way to make these changes as easy as upgrading an iPhone app.

The other question is, what’s in it for users if they upgrade now? They can get 6.5 percent for their Sai in Compound and Dharma, while DSR for Dai is at 2 percent. Other than the fact that MakerDAO might shut down Sai in the future, there doesn’t seem to be a huge incentive to switch right now. Let me know if I’m missing something and I’ll tweet out your answer :)

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