Aave and MakerDAO Leaders Propose New DeFi Alliance

A Call for Collaboration in DeFi 

Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, and Rune Christensen, co-founder of MakerDAO, proposed the alliance. Their goal is to encourage wider use of DeFi and bridge the gap between decentralized and traditional financial systems. Aave Labs believes this collaboration could “turbocharge DeFi.” 

Kulechov highlighted that DeFi protocols have proven their resilience and market readiness. He believes this partnership could help position DeFi as a fundamental component of the global financial system. He anticipates that the Sky Aave Force, the result of this collaboration, will offer new opportunities and broaden DeFi’s reach. 

MakerDAO’s Rebranding to Sky 

In a significant move, MakerDAO has rebranded itself as Sky. Along with this change, they introduced a new governance token, where 1 MKR token is now worth 24,000 SKY tokens. This rebranding is seen as a step toward the “next evolution of DeFi,” aiming to make decentralized finance more accessible. 

However, these changes have raised some concerns. The introduction of features like VPN blocks and freeze functions has led to debates about the future direction of DAI, the largest decentralized stablecoin managed by MakerDAO. 

Concerns Over DAI’s Decentralization 

Despite DAI’s reputation for allowing anonymous trades without intermediaries, it has not been free from controversies. The Wintermute hack highlighted vulnerabilities when $160 million worth of assets, including DAI, were moved to Curve to prevent freezing. Christensen clarified that the freeze function in USDS, a new feature, is optional and would require governance votes to be activated. 

Even so, the mere mention of such a feature has worried some users. They fear DAI might lose its decentralized nature and become more like other stablecoins, potentially compromising its core principles. 

As the industry watches these developments, the proposed alliance between Aave and Sky could be a significant step toward securing the future of decentralized finance.