MakerDAO Considers Reverting to Its Original Brand Name After Backlash from the Community

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) lending platform SKY is seriously considering reverting to its original brand name, Maker, following backlashes and negative reactions from its community.

DeFi lending platform Maker Protocol is considering reverting to its original branding following backlash and concerns from its community over a recent rebranding effort.

A few months ago, Maker Protocol announced that it was upgrading its stablecoin and native governance token to make its decentralized finance (DeFi) products more accessible to the mainstream.

As part of this initiative, Maker was set to rename its decentralized stablecoin Dai to USDS. Additionally, the Maker token was set to be rebranded to Sky (SKY) at a rate of 1:24,000, with the Maker SubDAOs being renamed to Sky Stars.

The protocol was designed with a focus on simplicity and ease of use, allowing users to benefit from innovations like Sky Token Rewards (STRs) and the Sky Savings Rate (SSR) if they were in an eligible jurisdiction.

Explaining the technicalities of this initiative, Rune Christensen, co-founder of Maker, highlighted that each Sky Star subDAO was to autonomously deploy a governance token, manage its treasury and community, and implement DAO-specific decisions independently.

"Sky Stars will be able to innovate, experiment, and take more risks, while the Sky Protocol itself can remain purely focused on maintaining the value and stability of the USDS stablecoin," said Christensen.

"Core Sky Governance will protect against risks in the tail end, while Stars specialize in doing business in the trenches."

Following this development, Gnosis Chain users raised concerns about the centralization characteristics of USDS. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the capacity of the USDS to freeze wallet addresses sparked a debate about the alignment of this token with the primary goals of Gnosis.

Months after this significant move, Christensen has now proposed three approaches to reach a common ground with all stakeholders to address the growing concerns.

Firstly, the co-founder proposed that the community continue to build momentum with the Sky brand to capitalize on its recent success and growing adoption. The second proposal is to reintroduce the Maker brand as a central focus and reinstate MKR as its only governance token. Finally, Christensen proposes that they recenter the Maker brand with a refreshed brand identity that maintains a classic feel. This implies that the old brand would be subject to a minimal modification to align with USDS and StarDAOs.

According to him, the strong affinity and resistance generated within the community underscores the love and trust for the previous identity.

"It is also now more clear than ever just how much the DeFi community loves and trusts the Maker brand," he said. "There was a lot of affinity for the brand and what it stands for – stability, security, and DeFi scale. And there is a lot of commitment to holding the MKR token versus upgrading to SKY."

For now, the team will collect feedback through a community call on Oct. 25 and hold a governance poll on Nov. 4 to decide on the direction of the Maker brand and its tokenomics.

Since the rebranding, the former governance token MKR has nosedived 45% to trade at $1,170. According to market data, this marks its lowest level since September 2023.