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Sky, formerly known as Maker, has officially launched its USDS stablecoin on the Solana blockchain, marking a significant milestone in decentralized finance (DeFi). This development is aimed at harnessing Solana’s rapidly growing DeFi ecosystem, which has seen its total value locked (TVL) skyrocket by 487% year-to-date to over $8 billion, as per DefiLlama.
The newly branded USDS, formerly known as DAI, is touted as the first major DeFi-native stablecoin on Solana. It introduces innovative lending, borrowing, and trading capabilities across Solana’s top DeFi platforms.
Sky’s Vision for Solana
Sky’s Nov. 19 announcement described the USDS launch as the initial phase of its broader strategy to bolster Solana’s DeFi liquidity and TVL. The team is also considering deploying SkyLink, a cross-chain bridge for USDS and its savings-focused counterpart, sUSDS, subject to governance approval.
To accelerate adoption, Sky is offering a massive $500,000 USDS reward pool for early users and liquidity providers:
- Kamino Finance: Weekly rewards of 200,000 USDS for USDC/USDS liquidity providers and 100,000 USDS for stablecoin suppliers.
- Drift Protocol: 100,000 USDS rewards for stablecoin suppliers.
- Save Finance: Monthly rewards totaling 400,000 USDS for users supplying USDS.
The protocol utilizes Wormhole’s Native Token Transfer (NTT) for seamless operations, enhancing cross-chain functionality.
The shift from Maker to Sky has not been without challenges. The rebranding caused some confusion, even prompting co-founder Rune Christensen to propose reverting to the original name. However, the idea was ultimately rejected. Additionally, the governance token transition from MKR to SKY has been slow, as SKY is yet to list on exchanges, impacting its adoption.
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With a market capitalization of $5.3 billion, USDS ranks as the third-largest stablecoin, behind Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), which dominate 88% of the market. Despite its promising potential, USDS faces stiff competition in an already crowded stablecoin arena.
While Solana’s explosive DeFi growth has been noteworthy, much of its popularity has been fueled by the speculative frenzy surrounding meme coins, thanks to platforms like Pump.fun that make token creation fast and inexpensive.
Sky’s bold move onto Solana demonstrates a commitment to advancing DeFi innovation. The success of USDS will hinge on its ability to differentiate itself in a competitive market while leveraging Solana’s scalability and speed.
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