An Overview of the Maker Protocol and Its Features

Modified on Sat, 18 Feb, 2023 at 9:23 PM

The Maker Protocol

The Maker Protocol is one of the largest DApps on the Ethereum blockchain that was designed by a disparate group of contributors, including developers within the Maker Foundation, its outside partners, and other persons and entities. It is the first decentralized finance (DeFi) application to see significant adoption.

The Maker Protocol is managed by people around the world who hold its governance tokens: MKR. Through a system of scientific governance involving Executive Voting and Governance Polling, MKR holders govern the Protocol and the financial risks of Dai to ensure its stability, transparency, and efficiency. One MKR token locked in a voting contract equals one vote.

The Dai Stablecoin

The Dai Stablecoin is a decentralized, unbiased, collateral-backed cryptocurrency soft-pegged to the US Dollar. Dai is held in cryptocurrency wallets or within platforms and is supported on Ethereum and other popular blockchains. 

Dai is easy to generate, access, and use. Users can generate Dai by depositing collateral assets into Maker Vaults within the Maker Protocol; this is how Dai is entered into circulation and how users gain access to liquidity. Others obtain Dai by buying it from brokers or exchanges, or simply by receiving it as means of payment.

Once generated, bought, or received, Dai can be used in the same manner as any other cryptocurrency; it can be sent to others, used as payments for goods and services, and even held as savings through a feature of the Maker Protocol called Dai Savings Rate (DSR).

Every Dai in circulation is directly backed by excess collateral, meaning that the value of the collateral is higher than the value of the Dai debt, and all Dai transactions are publicly viewable on the Ethereum blockchain.


Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select at least one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article