April was an extremely busy month for the Maker community! Governance was in high gear as stakeholders planned the shutdown of Single-Collateral Dai (Sai) and began to discuss the Maker Improvement Proposals (MIPs) and how Maker will look after complete decentralization; the Maker Foundation welcomed a new Board of Directors and sponsored its first Fifa 20 Championship; and Business Development and Community Leads embraced the new virtual world of events. It’s all unpacked below, but first, let’s look at the numbers from daistats.com as of April 30, 2020, 7:45 am PT. 

Total Dai: 101,188,570.48 

Dai from ETH: 99,837,515.8 (98.66%)

Dai from BAT: 435,313.12 (0.43%)

Dai from USDC: 823,310.64 (0.81%

ETH Stability Fee: 0%

BAT Stability Fee: 0%

USDC Stability Fee: 6%

Dai Savings Rate: 0%

Dai in DSR: 9,890,428.52 (9.77%)

Vaults Opened: 8668 

The Maker Foundation Forms a New Board of Directors

The Maker Foundation’s new board of directors consists of Rune Christensen, Co-founder of MakerDAO and current CEO of the Maker Foundation; Steven Becker, COO and President of the Maker Foundation; Tonya M. Evans, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law; and Shefali Roy, COO and Chief Compliance Officer of TrueLayer. Recruiting two highly respected and valued voices from outside the Foundation team pool helps to ensure the board has the experience required to fuel the next phase of growth and guide MakerDAO to full decentralization with transparency and accountability. Read more.

A Guide to Dai Stats

The transparency of the blockchain means there’s a wealth of data just waiting for Dai users to explore. To examine that data all in one place, there’s no better resource than daistats.com. Discover the Guide to Dai Stats to unpack every Protocol metric on the page and explore the broader significance of each number.

The Top Use Cases and Benefits of the Dai Stablecoin

Every day, more and more people around the world discover the use cases and benefits of the Dai stablecoin. Here are the top 10.

How and Why to Self-Integrate Dai into Decentralized Apps

As the most used cryptocurrency in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, the Dai stablecoin has been integrated into an entire ecosystem of projects. By sourcing Maker’s developer documentation and tutorials, anyone can harness Dai in their projects. Learn how.

Composable Infrastructure as Code: An Introduction to the Maker DeFi Ecosystem

The Lego-like building blocks of the Maker Protocol allow developers to quickly and easily construct financial solutions that offer the benefits of Dai. By taking advantage of Maker’s open-source code, DeFi components can be used over and over or reconfigured as building blocks for further innovation. Discover how composability and popularity of the Maker Protocol are helping to grow the DeFi movement

A Guide to Single-Collateral Dai (Sai) Shutdown

The Shutdown of Maker’s Single-Collateral Dai (Sai) system is an event the community has been expecting. On April 6, the community signaled its support to initiate the Shutdown of the SCD system through an executive vote on April 24. On April 24, the community signaled to introduce a ‘pause’ (grace period), between passage of the vote and the time at which SCD Shutdown takes place —May 12 at 16:00 UTC. See updates on the sequential process for SCD Shutdown here.

What is Web 3.0, and What Does it Promise Financial Services Consumers?

New tech, including blockchain tech, will support Web 3.0 and better enable individuals and businesses to transact across the globe, free from third-party interference. Cryptocurrencies like Dai, and decentralized financial systems such as the Maker Protocol, are pivotal in this regard. Learn what Web 3.0 has in store.

Worth Repeating

Crypto Offers the Cheapest Way to Transfer Money Internationally 

Total global remittances reached $689B in 2018, and traditional money transfer service providers charged average fees of up to 11%. Sending crypto is a better, less expensive alternative.

Developer Resources

Maker Protocol Technical Documentation

Everything—everything— you need to know about the upgraded Maker Protocol now exists in (highly technical) documentation. Get your geek on!

Developer Guides

MakerDAO’s Developer Guides help anyone integrate with Maker’s smart contracts, SDKs, APIs, products, and partners. Bookmark the guides and review them anytime.

Governance Updates

Maker Improvement Proposals (MIPs)

On April 6, the first 13 Maker Improvement Proposals (MIPs) were introduced to further decentralization of MakerDAO. The MIPs provide the community with a standard approach to proposing improvements and processing changes that will bring MakerDAO closer to self-sustainability. Join the latest discussions about MIPs in the Maker Forum.

The Maker Improvement Proposals (MIPs) Timing Poll is Live

On April 27, just 21 days after publication of the initial Maker Improvement Proposals (MIPs), the Maker governance Timing Poll went live. Community members have been asked to signal whether or not the 13 Initial MIPs and 2 subproposals will move to a Ratification Vote on May 1.

What Will Maker Governance Look Like After Complete Decentralization?

To prepare the community for Maker Protocol governance after complete decentralization, discussions have begun focusing on the key elements of a self-sustaining DAO. Learn what Maker governance will look like in the future.

Beyond Holding MKR: The Responsibility of Decentralized MakerDAO Governance Voting

Well-intentioned community participation in the Maker governance process isn’t just a right of MKR holders—it’s a responsibility. Learn how you can help guard and improve the governance process.

This Month’s Series of Governance Polls and Executive Votes 

April resulted in changes to Stability Fees. Fees for both ETH and BAT have been lowered to 0% from 0.5%, while the USCD Stability Fee is at 6%. The Dai Savings Rate remains at 0%. These figures are as of April 30, 2020, 7:45am PT.

Here’s the polling and voting history:

• April 30: Executive Vote: Raise the ETH Debt Ceiling
• April 27: Governance Polls: Timing of MIPs Ratification Vote, Adjustments to Dai Stability Fee, DSR Spread, and more
• April 24: Executive Vote: Lower USDC SF, Lower USDC LR, Whitelist Oracles, Raise Dai DC, Raise GSM Delay, Deactivate MKR Oracle in SCD
• April 20: Governance Polls: Adjustments to Dai Stability Fee, Governance Security Module, and more
• April 17: Executive Vote: Adjust the USDC, Sai, and Dai Stability Fees
• April 13: Governance Polls: Adjustments to USDC Stability Fee, Sai Stability Fee, DSR Spread, and more
• April 10: Executive Vote: Adjust the USDC, Sai and Dai Stability Fees
• April 6: Governance Polls: Vault Compensation, IRV Ranked Choice Voting, Dai Stability Fee, and more
• April 3: Executive Vote: Adjust Multiple Risk Parameters 

To stay current on governance, risk, and community issues, bookmark the MakerDAO Public Events Calendar. Newcomers to Maker might want to review our series of posts on the MakerDAO Governance Risk Framework.

Rune Radio 

On April 8, Rune was the very first guest on Camila Russo’s Defiant podcast.

On April 21, Rune went in-depth on all things Maker in the POV Crypto Podcast. Have a listen. 

The very next day, Rune talked to Cointelegraph about Maker’s plan to increase the stability of Dai and the eventual merger of DeFi and centralized finance (CeFi). Watch:

The Latest Integrations

QPocket, QuarkChain’s official crypto wallet, now supports Dai.

HashKey Hub, which offers users convenient deposit and management services for digital assets, now supports Dai. 

Referral rewards on 2key Network, a platform for building referral campaigns, are now offered in Dai. 

Redeeem, a peer-to-peer discount gift card exchange, now officially supports Dai.

Community Highlights and Event Recaps

On April 1, Maker’s Head of Integrations Nikolaj Lollike joined an online panel to discuss where blockchain technology and crypto are now, and where they might be in 2030. Panelists included representatives from PwC, EtoroX, and Aryze. Consider setting a reminder in 10 years to check whether currencies like Dai will get integrated into the technologies we use daily as predicted. Watch below:

On Sunday, April 5, Maker’s Head of Smart Contracts Mariano Conti presented (virtually) at NONCON 2020, providing a high-level overview of Multi-Collateral Dai growth in the last six months. Conti also discussed the ways in which Dai powers the DeFi ecosystem in a permissionless way. Watch the recording of the entire event here. 

Kathleen Chu, Maker’s Community Lead in Japan, discussed how Dai and the Maker Protocol work at an online seminar hosted by Blockchain Collaborative Consortium on April 9. The BCCC promotes the widespread use of blockchain technology.

On April 14, Jacek Czarnecki of Maker’s Global Legal Counsel team, joined an online panel discussion, Will DeFi Become the Future Capital Market? The panel, moderated by prof. Philipp Sander from Frankfurt School Blockchain Centre, also included Prof. Dr. Fabian Schär (University of Basel), Magnus Jones (Ernst & Young), and Rams Barathy (Future Wealth & Technologies).  

Nikolaj Lollike was back on the virtual panel circuit on April 16, introducing Maker and Dai to around 1,500 attendees of the Blockdown 2020 Conference. Watch below:

On April 17, Gustav Arentoft, one of Maker’s Business Development Associates in Europe, joined the first virtual event organized by Switzerland’s Crypto Valley Association: The Effects of Stablecoins in the Pre and Post-Corona Era. Gustav introduced Dai to the audience, and shared MakerDAO updates. The event drew about 450 people from 60 countries, according to the organizers. Watch Gustav’s presentation here. 

One week later, on April 24, Maria Magenes, Maker's Community Lead in Europe, joined Idle Finance and PieDAO founders to discuss “Reframing DeFi—Risk Diversification” at ETHTurin. The talk focused on DAOs and the connected risks, challenges, and future expectations in the DeFi space. ETHTurin, part of ETHGlobal events series, is a hackathon with a section dedicated to educational talks.

To stay current on Maker Community meetings, bookmark our Community Playlist on Youtube.

Upcoming Events

May 1: DeFi Full-Stack Summit—Virtual

May 7-8: Ethereal Summit New York 2020—Virtual

May 11: Consensus Distributed—Virtual

May 19-20: Anon Summit 2020—Virtual

May 25: BlockConf—Virtual

Sept. 22-24: Money 20/20 Europe 2020 — Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dec. 9-10: Paris Blockchain Week Summit

To see more events we sponsor, participate in, or plan to attend, head to our Events page, and bookmark it!

Reminder: If you’re organizing a small event that incorporates Maker or Dai—whether it's a meetup, panel, talk, or workshop— we want to support you! Learn more about our global meetups and micro-grants initiative. 

The Maker Foundation Is Hiring!

The Maker Foundation is looking for awesome people to join our growing, hard-working, and overall badass team. Check out our open roles and reach out if you’re interested!

In the meantime, stay home and stay healthy!

Learn more about MakerDAO:

Website: https://makerdao.com/

Blog: https://blog.makerdao.com

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/makerdao