August has been almost all about the Dai debt ceiling. We saw a few increases to the ceiling in the past several weeks, beginning with a historically large increase in late July, when MKR holders voted to raise it to 568 million. Shortly after, we saw another increase to 688 million. Now, as of this writing, the Dai debt ceiling stands at 588 million, with total Dai in existence over 435 million. Those and other milestones plus an explanation of the vital role of the Dai debt ceiling were published in a blog post a couple of weeks ago (link below).

Also in August, discussions began concerning an upgrade to the Liquidation system of the Maker Protocol, and we shared the winners of the Maker Foundation’s first internal hackathon. 

A lot has happened since the last Making Maker. and it’s all here. But first, let’s look at the numbers from daistats.com as of August 31, 2020, 1:30pm  PT. 

Total Dai: 438,795,166.54 

Dai from ETH: 341,341,822.4 (77.79%)

Dai from BAT: 4,985,032.07  (1.14%)

Dai from USDC-A: 11,191,492.76  (2.55%)

Dai from WBTC: 79,314,078.56 (18.08%)

Dai from USDC B: 4,981.73 (0%)

Dai from TUSD: 0 (0%)

Dai from KNC: 181,577.53 (0.04%)

Dai from ZRX:  106,257.92 (0.02%)

Dai from MANA: 315,865.33 (0.07%)

ETH Stability Fee: 0.0%

BAT Stability Fee: 0.0%

USDC-A Stability Fee: 44.00%

WBTC Stability Fee: 0.0%

USDC-B Stability Fee: 0.00%

TUSD Stability Fee: 0.0%

KNC Stability Fee: 0.00%

ZRX Stability Fee: 0.00%

MANA Stability Fee: 6.00%

Dai Savings Rate: 0%

Dai in DSR: 188,593,477.21 (42.98%)

Vaults Opened: 13,945

Blog Round-up

The Vital Role of the Dai Debt Ceiling in the Maker Protocol

The past several weeks have proved remarkable for DeFi and the Maker ecosystem, spurring an unprecedented level of debt ceiling activity. Learn what the Dai debt ceiling is and why it’s so important to the entire Maker ecosystem.

The Top 10 Crypto and DeFi Influencers on Twitter

The crypto and DeFi influencers chosen for this list provide insightful content and inspire valuable discussions about the DeFi movement on Twitter.

Who Uses the Maker Protocol and Dai, and Why?

The Maker Protocol provides a robust set of financial tools, while Dai unlocks the value inherent in those tools. Together, they fuel a large and growing ecosystem of DeFi projects that benefits users in numerous ways.

Dai stands out in a crowd of currencies.

Ten Brief Explainer Videos About Dai and the Maker Protocol

To satisfy those who like to learn by watching, here are 10 videos that provide brief overviews of the Dai stablecoin and the smart contracts that power the Maker Protocol.

The First Maker Foundation Internal Hackathon Produces Great New Solutions for Dai

The first Maker Internal Hackathon was held in June, and what a success it was! Fourteen developer teams participated in the event, ultimately delivering hugely valuable projects focused on different areas of the Maker Protocol and ever-expanding ecosystem. 

Composability means that developers can build on the Maker Protocol to create new dapps.

Worth Repeating

Welcome to the Evolution: How DeFi is Augmenting the Global Financial System

DeFi is changing the financial services world, from the composable infrastructure of its applications to its functionality and consumer benefits, but it’s doing so through augmentation, not revolution or replacement.

You’ve Learned How to Open a Maker Vault––Now What?

The Maker Foundation’s latest video, How to Open a Maker Vault, demonstrates how easy it is to generate the Dai stablecoin. Watch:

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

Miss This? Maker Governance Review: July 2020.

Governance Polls and Executive Votes in August 

• Aug. 28: Executive Vote: Activate Liquidations 1.2, Multiple Other Changes
• Aug. 24: Executive Vote: Approve August 2020 Governance Cycle Bundle
• Aug. 21: Executive Vote: Increase the Base Rate
• Aug. 18: Executive Vote: Increase ETH Debt Ceiling to 420 Million
• Aug. 17: Governance Poll: Base Rate adjustment, ETH Debt Ceiling, Greenlight Polls, and more
• Aug. 14: Executive Vote: Modify Multiple System Parameters
• Aug. 10: Governance Poll: Liquidations 1.2 Upgrade, Base Rate adjustment, and more
• Aug. 7: Executive Vote: Urgent configuration change to the ETH lump size, Increase the WBTC-A debt ceiling  

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 August 12, Outlier Ventures hosted Rune for a podcast discussion titled, Beyond Defi: Decentralising Global Credit Markets. The conversation starts at the very beginning of Rune’s exploration of digital currencies. Listen here.

On August 14, Maggie Ng, Sr. Vice President and Head of Marketing at Crypto.com, hosted a live AMA with Rune, who answered all sorts of viewer questions about Dai and Maker. Watch the video below (beginning at the 14.47 mark):

On August 17, In a 10-tweet thread, Rune explained why real-world assets (RWAs) are critical to DeFi scaling and having a positive impact on the economy. He also lists some of the incredible MIP6 collateral onboarding applications for RWAs.

The Latest Integrations

It’s all about speed for bloXroute, which has integrated Dai as it brings its fast network highway to DeFi.  

Trustee Wallet has integrated Dai.

Dai can now be sent to Klaytn as KDai through Orbit Chain. Hello, #EveryDai!

Community Highlights 

Blocklords has earned a Dai grant from MakerDAO. To celebrate, limited-edition “Maker Heroes” NFTs have been designed for players of the medieval grand strategy game. Each hero brings something special to the battlefield. Community members can get them at upcoming events and via the OpenSea marketplace.  

Maker Heroes—NFTs designed for Blocklords.

Event Recaps

At the tail end of last month (too late for the last Making Maker), Greg Diprisco, the Maker Foundation’s Head of Business Development, joined representatives from other leading DeFi protocols in a Radix-hosted roundtable discussion titled, The Path to Decentralization. The panelists discussed the delicate balance of CeFi and DeFi, navigating DeFi regulations in different geographies, and more.

On August 3, Gustav Arentoft, a Maker Foundation Business Development Associate in Europe, was happy to contribute to Open World Builders’ (OWB) free virtual blockchain bootcamp by Dapper Labs. A few weeks earlier, Charles St. Louis, Maker’s Decentralized Governance Architect, took the hot seat at OWB bootcamp. Watch his presentation here.

Two days later, Gustav was back at it, speaking at the first DeFi conference streamed from Africa, DeFi Conference 2020: The Rise of Decentralized Finance. Watch him introduce Maker and discuss the DeFi space. It all starts right after the opening address:

On August 6, Maker Foundation President and COO Steven Becker spoke at the virtual Global DeFi Summit, participating in a panel discussion titled, DAO Structures and Economics: From Token Distribution to Governance. The panel, moderated by Christina Comben from Cointelegraph, also included Blake Richman of Vertalo and Corey Caplan of DeFi Money Market Foundation. Watch the conversation:

The next day, Maria Magenes, the Maker Foundation’s Community Lead in Europe and Africa, hosted another virtual FriDAI brunch. This time, she welcomed Henry Doe, Head of Design at the Foundation, and Lili Feyerabend, a freelance designer. The discussion focused on the importance of providing the best UX with the right design for products and services, especially those that are new and striving to succeed in Web 3.0. 

Maria starts the FriDAI discussion by asking Henry and Lili icebreaker questions.

On August 11, Nadia Alvarez, a Maker Foundation Business Development Associate in South America, was a guest at the latest DeFi Africa virtual meetup. The event, hosted by Maker’s ambassador to the region Sahabia, also featured Isa Kivlighan, Head of Marketing at Aave. The conversations focused on the many benefits of DeFi.

BlockDriven Academy hosts virtual events focused on specific career paths within the blockchain space. On several occasions, representatives from the Maker Foundation have been invited to speak. Last month, Jennifer Senhaji, joined a panel to discuss her role as a member of the Foundation’s Business Development team. On August 11, Jeremy Hollister, Head of People Success at the Foundation, participated in a discussion about how to get started in the blockchain space. Finally, on August 25, Soren Peter Nielsen, Head of Product at the Foundation, joined a panel on product management.

On August 13, Jen Senhaji introduced MakerDAO to attendees of the WIP (Work in Progress) Meetup, hosted by Matt from Cent. WIP meetups aren’t just for discussions around DeFi. Members consist of artists, poets, creators, collectors, number crunchers, and gamers, who attend to share project updates. Some who attend do so through their custom-tailored avatars from exciting locations within the crypto metaverse Cryptovoxels. Interested in joining? Take a look.
 

 Screenshot of a WIP meetup in the Cryptovoxels metaverse.

On August 14, Nathan Kim, the Korea Community Lead for the Maker Foundation, spoke in-person at a DeFi event in Seoul titled, The Present and the Future of Digital Assets. Nathan talked about the growth of the Maker Protocol and recent transitions within the DeFi ecosystem. Other organizations represented at the event included Chainlink and Conflux.

 Nathan Kim presents MakerDAO to a DeFi-curious audience in Seoul.

On August 18, Charles St Louis, Decentralized Governance Architect for the Maker Foundation, concluded Southeast Asia DeFi Week with an insider’s peek into the MakerDAO governance. Watch his presentation:

The Maker Foundation and Hashed co-hosted this year’s first and largest online DeFi conference in Korea —the Korea DeFi Roadshow 2020. Over three days (August 24-26), many popular DeFi protocols including MakerDAO, Aave, Synthetix, Terra, Kyber, and bZx, shared their stories and recent accomplishments. Maker’s Nathan Kim organized the event, which drew 1,700 attendees and offered DeFi topic discussions ranging from lending and derivatives to payment and regulation.

Nathan Kim (left) organized the Korea DeFi Roadshow 2020.

On August 25, Kathleen Chu, the Maker Foundation’s Community Lead in Japan, attended the Blockchain Global Governance Conference, organized by Japan’s Financial Services Agency and Nikkei, and held in Tokyo and online. Kathleen discussed the importance of the Ethereum community and DeFi. Watch the discussion:

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

Upcoming Events

Sept. 1: Swedish Blockchain Association Webinar: DeFi  

Sept. 3: Bar on The Block Webinar: Scaling DeFi

Sept. 4: FriDAI Brunch #4 - Governance For Dummies (Virtual)

Sept. 15-16: Copenhagen Fintech Week 2020 (Virtual)

Sept. 25-28: Coingangs Weekend—Belek, Antalya, Turkey

Sept. 30: Stable Coins Demystified (Virtual)

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!

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