Making Maker: December 2019

December 27, 2019

Happy HoliDais from the Maker Foundation!

We close out the year on a very high note, thanks to the successful launch of MCD and funding from Dragonfly and Paradigm that will support bringing DeFi to Asian markets. The month also saw China-based OKEx become the first major platform to integrate the Dai Savings Rate (DSR). Details below, but let’s look at the numbers from Daistats.com as of Dec. 27, 2019, 9:00am PT.

Total Dai: 70,933,374.14

Dai from ETH: 67,755,522.62 (95.52%)

Dai from BAT: 1,654,225.25 (2.33%)

ETH Stability Fee: 4%

BAT Stability Fee: 4%

Dai Savings Rate : 4%

Dai in DSR: 27,557,725.22 (38.85%)

Vaults Opened: 3082

MKR Sale of $27.5 Million to Dragonfly Capital Partners and Paradigm

The joint purchase will support Maker’s efforts to increase Dai adoption in Asia and give Maker direct access to both Dragonfly’s and Paradigm’s expertise in the Asian market. Read the press release.

The Transfer of MKR Token Control: A Giant Leap Toward System Decentralization

On December 20, the Maker Foundation initialized shared control of the MKR token with the Maker Protocol contracts and, therefore, the governance community. Shared control will continue for about one month to ensure a successful handover. This is a major step on the path to decentralization. Read more.

The Flippening!

On Dec 8, we experienced our first flippening: More ETH locked in Dai than in Sai.

List of Partners That Currently Support  MCD 

1inch

Airswap / Fluidity

Bamboo Relay

Bitgo

Crypto.com

Coss

DDEX

DeFi Saver

Etherscan

HitBTC

imToken

Instadapp

Kyber Network

LeverJ

LoanScan

Opera

Radar Relay

Switcheo

Uniswap

Upbit

New Maker Protocol Technical Documentation

Everything—everything— you need to know about the upgraded Maker Protocol now exists in new (highly technical) documentation. A more reader-friendly MCD white paper will be released soon.

Developer Guides

MakerDAO’s Developer Guides help anyone integrate with Maker’s smart contracts, SDKs, APIs, products, and partners. This month, learn how the Dai token contract works. 

Governance Updates

A series of Governance Polls and Executive Votes this month resulted in 4% Stability Fees for both ETH and BAT, and a 4% DSR, as of Dec. 27, 2019, 9:00am PT.

Here’s the polling and voting history:

The Governance Security Module (GSM)

The GSM is designed to give the MKR token holders a chance to review any system changes, and then act accordingly if those changes are deemed to be malicious. Since the launch of MCD, the delay has been set to 0. This allowed the community to take immediate action to mitigate technical errors, oracle malfunctions, or outlier cases like a market panic or an economic attack. It is now time to review the GSM discussion regarding the optimal amount of delay to enact. Read more.

New Maker Governance Dashboard

If you’ve ever wondered how many MKR tokens are distributed across the various executive proposals, or how the amount of MKR varies within DS-Chief, the new governance dashboard, developed by members of the MakerDAO community, provides answers. Want more features? Make your voice heard by joining this discussion in the Maker Forum.

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.

Community Highlights and Event Recaps

On December 3, Kenton Prescott, one of our Integrations Engineers, presented to the Crypto Underground at Galvanize in San Francisco.  Crypto Underground is an education and networking group of crypto revolutionaries and people curious about crypto. Kenton participated along with speakers from dYdX, Compound, Nuo Network, and Pantera in a panel discussion titled, “Killer app for crypto? Can your bank provide 10% interest? CeFi vs DeFi! ” The conversation centered on the state of DeFi and how it compares to permissioned financial products on Ethereum (CeFi). Kenton also spoke about the novel design of the Dai Savings Rate. 

Kenton Prescott introduces the DSR to Crypto Underground members at Galvanize in San Francisco.

On December 9, Kathleen Chu, our Community Lead in Japan, spoke on a panel about DeFi and the future of the blockchain at a one-year anniversary event hosted by PoL (Proof of Learning), a Tokyo-based online blockchain education platform. The first online course about MakerDAO, jointly designed by Maker and PoL, was also announced. The course is free for PoL students.

The students of PoL.

The following day, December 10, Kathleen spoke at the second meetup of Yasashi DeFi, an educational group that meets monthly in Tokyo. She discussed how governance works in the traditional world compared to the world of open finance on the blockchain.

The Yasashi DeFi community is growing.

On December 12, Mariano Di Pietrantonio, Maker’s Community Lead in South America, joined a panel discussion at the LaBitConf in Montevideo, Uruguay, titled, "Stablecoins: Reinventing the Gold Standard." The conversation focused on the obstacles Latin Americans face when trying to access stable savings,  regardless of the state of the economy. For example, while currency devaluations in Argentina and Venezuela are well known given the macro-economic problems that exist in those countries, Brazil and Chile face similar issues, but for totally different reasons. Di Pietrantonio and the other panelists—Maximiliano Carjuzaa of Money on Chain, Nevin Freeman from Reserve, and Joshua Scigala from Vaultoro— all agreed that stablecoins are here to stay.

Di Pietrantonio, Carjuzaa, Freeman, and Scigala talk stablecoins at LaBitConf in Montevideo, Uruguay.

In late November, Maria Magenes, our Community Lead in Europe, and Petru Catana, an Associate Integrations Developer at Maker, were invited to the monthly Multichain Asset Management Association (MAMA) meetup in Zurich, Switzerland, at the Kate Vass Galerie. Petru spoke about the Maker Protocol and the DSR to a small but captivated audience that included people from the blockchain space as well as the larger financial industry.  

Petru Catana speaking at the MAMA meetup in Zurich.
The illustrated design of the Maker Protocol is like a piece of art.

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

Developers should also bookmark our Developer Guides on Github.

Rune in the Spotlight

Maker Foundation CEO, Rune Christensen, has been selected one of Coindesk’s Most Influential of 2019. “People are chosen for having exemplary years, perhaps the most significant year of their careers.” Welcome to Rune 101.

On Dec. 20, Rune spoke to Forbes about the sale of $27.5 million worth of MKR  to Dragonfly Capital Partners and Paradigm, and Maker’s growing interest in Asia. “After having been in talks with Dragonfly and Paradigm for a very long time, we decided that they were the real deal,” Rune said, “and they had what it would take for us to make this kind of of successful push into Asia, where we'd be able to navigate all the challenges.” Read the full story.

Partnerships

On Dec. 6, Dai became the first stablecoin on the Coinbase Card. 

The Latest Dai Integrations

Users of China-based OKEx marketplace can now directly deposit Dai and stake it in the DSR to earn the savings rate plus an additional reward that is exclusive to OKEx—all without leaving the OKEx platform. Be sure to read the recap of our Telegram AMA with Alina Yao, VP of Business Development at OKEx and Head of OKEx Pool. Thanks to all who participated!

 OKEx is the first major platform to integrate the Dai Savings Rate.

StormX has integrated Dai into both of its products—StormPlay and StormShop—allowing its community members to access crypto more easily. Users can earn Dai rewards by completing micro tasks or just shopping. 

The Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) now supports Dai for membership purchases. Early bird rates end on January 1st. Take a look.

Authereum users can now use Dai to interact with Ethereum without ever owning ETH. Watch a new user buy DAI and then lend it without ever touching ETH.

Fintech blockchain solution ShuttleOne brings the benefits of Dai to its users in Southeast Asia.

Upcoming Events

January 6-10: CES 2020 at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada

Maker joins more than 4,500 exhibiting companies at CES in Las Vegas. Stop by our booth (#45943, Tech West) to say hi and chat with members of our team. And on January 7, join us to hear Maker President and COO Steven Becker discuss some of the technical hurdles of the blockchain at the Digital Money Forum, 2:45-3:15pm.

January 22: Cryptopalooza

Petru Catana, Associate Integrations Developer at MakerDAO, will introduce Maker and discuss the DSR at CryptoPlaza-Loom in Madrid, Spain, 6pm.

January  23: CV Summit Davos 2020

Rune takes part in a panel discussion titled, DeFI Disrupting the Financial Industry. Join us at the InterContinental Davos in Davos, Switzerland.

January 29-3: Crypto2020 Summit

Mariano Conti, our head of Smart Contracts, will share his predictions for the future of the crypto space. This event is online and free for a limited time. Get your tickets at the link above. 

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

December 27, 2019

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