Sky — the protocol formerly known as MakerDAO — is one of the oldest and largest DAOs in DeFi. It governs the issuance of decentralized, crypto-and-real-world-asset-collateralized stablecoins and is widely regarded as the original DeFi DAO, the project that proved a community could run a multi-billion-dollar monetary system through on-chain governance.

DAI: the first decentralized stablecoin

MakerDAO launched DAI in 2017, the first widely-adopted stablecoin not backed by a centralized issuer's bank account but minted against on-chain collateral and held near $1 by an autonomous system of vaults, liquidations, and a governance-set stability fee. MKR holders governed every parameter — collateral types, fees, debt ceilings — making Maker the canonical demonstration of decentralized monetary governance. (Sky / Maker documentation)

Endgame and the rebrand to Sky

In May 2022, co-founder Rune Christensen published Endgame, a multi-year plan to restructure the monolithic protocol into a modular network of semi-autonomous subDAOs. On 27 August 2024 the project rebranded from MakerDAO to Sky, introducing new tokens: the MKR governance token migrates to SKY at a 1:24,000 ratio, and DAI gains a sibling, USDS, that holders can optionally upgrade to. (The Block)

The protocol today

By early 2026 the combined supply of DAI and USDS sits around $13 billion, with USDS having overtaken DAI in raw size. The collateral mix has shifted heavily toward real-world assets — roughly 40% short-term U.S. treasuries allocated through "Star" allocators, around a third USDC via the peg-stability module, and the balance in crypto — so that real-world-asset revenue now supplies the majority of protocol income, a near-complete inversion of its crypto-native origins. The Endgame "Stars" launch as subDAOs with their own tokens and governance; the first live Star, Spark — a lending market built on Sky liquidity — has grown past $3 billion in deposits (live figure on DeFiLlama). (Sky governance forum)

Why it matters

Sky is the longest-running test of whether a DAO can manage a large, risk-bearing balance sheet — making it a continual reference point for DAO treasury management: diversification into yield-bearing real-world assets, governance-set rates, and the trade-off between decentralization and the operational discipline a multi-billion-dollar treasury demands.

How Caper approaches this

Sky shows both the promise and the weight of a community-run treasury. A caper aims at the same on-chain, member-controlled treasury idea at a smaller, simpler scale: funds are raised into a shared vault that no single party can unilaterally spend, decisions execute on-chain when a vote authorizes them, and members retain a direct claim on the treasury. The Caper pages describe those mechanics without the subDAO complexity.

References

• Sky — official site.
• Sky Governance Forum.
• The Block — MakerDAO rebrands to Sky; DAI optionally upgradeable to USDS.