Sky’s Proposal to Revert to Old Name, “Maker,” Blocked by Whale-Controlled Vote

Last updated on November 12th, 2024 at 11:44 am

The DeFi protocol Sky team’s proposal to revert to its former brand name, Maker, was blocked by a small group of token “whales” in a governance vote on November 8.

The proposal sought to reintroduce the Maker brand with a limited refresh to address community concerns about the recent rebranding that replaced the MKR governance token with SKY and rebranded DAI as Sky Dollar (USDS).

However, data from Sky’s governance forum revealed that only 18.5% of voters supported the reversal to Maker, while over 79% backed retaining the Sky brand.

Notably, the vote was dominated by just a few large holders, with 98% of the total voting power concentrated among five “whales” collectively holding 77,252 MKR tokens.

Results of SkyDAO (formerly MakerDAO) name reversal vote. Source: **Sky**

This concentration of power has raised questions within the community about the potential centralization of governance, as expressed by one X user who humorously pointed out the sway a handful of entities have over key protocol decisions.

Bruh… pic.twitter.com/0BWJ4c7Hxt
— pDAI Xs to $1.00 (@pDAI_to_Dollar) November 7, 2024

The rebranding decision, implemented in August, had sparked debate, with some users expressing confusion about SKY’s utility and others raising concerns over the decentralization of USDS due to a potential freeze function.

Proponents of the Sky brand, including Vance Spencer of Framework Ventures, argue that the rebrand supports Maker’s broader vision, aligning with the Endgame roadmap set out by Maker co-founder Rune Christensen in 2022. Spencer believes that the Sky brand will drive protocol growth through offerings like decentralized, regulatory-compliant stablecoins and integrations with DeFi platforms like Aave and Ethereum Layer 2.

Meanwhile, the Ethena Labs community is preparing to vote on a proposal to integrate Ethereal, a decentralized exchange within the Ethena Network, into its reserve management system. This proposal, submitted on September 30 by member “Fells0x,” would allow Ethereal to manage spot and perpetual futures positions supporting Ethena Labs’ synthetic stablecoin, USDe. If approved, Ethena token holders could benefit from a 15% allocation of future Ethereal governance tokens, potentially adding further utility and incentives for the Ethena community. Notably, a date hasn’t been set for the vote.

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