MakerDAO Founder Proposes Plan for Upgraded Versions of DAI Stablecoin, Governance Token

Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform MakerDAO’s founder, Rune Christensen, laid out plans to introduce a new stablecoin and governance token as part of the platform’s on-going revamp, according to a proposal posted on Maker’s governance forum on Thursday.

The tokens will be upgraded versions of Maker’s stablecoin DAI and its governance token maker (MKR), and are expected to arrive “within several months” together with a new, unified brand and website for the protocol, the proposal said.

Christensen also proposed to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into Maker’s governance processes.

The proposal is part of Maker’s major restructuring called the “Endgame” that aims to revitalize the platform and boost development of applications for the protocol’s stablecoin. Maker’s governance has been embroiled in drama on several occasions, leaving community members divided, while demand for its DAI stablecoin has been steadily declining, dropping to $4.7 billion tokens in circulation from almost $10 billion in little over a year.

The initiative, which was approved in October by the community, includes breaking up Maker’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure into smaller SubDAOs, which are self-governing and self-sustaining entities with their own tokens within the MakerDAO ecosystem. CoinDesk reported in March that Christensen said in a community call that DAI suffered from bad branding that could inhibit its growth.

Christensen wrote in the proposal that the new stablecoin and governance token are the first phase of a five-stage roadmap to implement the Endgame.

The new stablecoin will be a wrapped version of DAI, and Maker will establish incentives for protocols that integrate the token.

The new governance token will have a larger supply than MKR, with a 1200:1 exchange rate to MKR. It will also give access to Maker’s AI-assisted governance tools, allowing token holders to “easily summarize and verify governance rules and processes, or generate new aligned governance proposals,” the proposal said.

Maker’s current tokens, DAI and MKR, will continue to exist without any changes, and users will be able to upgrade their holdings for the new assets without any fees and limitations.

Both new tokens will offer yield farming opportunities for holders to earn rewards. However, investors based in the U.S. and VPN users will be geoblocked from accessing farming.

“The short-term objective of Endgame is to grow to the largest and most widely used stablecoin project within three years,” Christensen wrote.

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