Sky Protocol and the Endgame transition from MakerDAO

Sky Protocol replaced MakerDAO as the primary stablecoin issuer through its 2024 rebrand. This transition introduced USDS alongside the original 2017 DAI token. By October 6, 2026, the USDS circulating supply reached $7.0 billion, while DAI supply sat at $4.8 billion. The SkyMoneyConverter contract allows 1:1 swaps between these two tokens at a fixed rate without fees. Rune Christensen proposed using the Solana codebase as the basis for "NewChain," a backend for SubDAO tokenomics and governance security. This NewChain plan forms part of the Endgame upgrade to redesign the protocol inside a new independent blockchain. The transition to Endgame involves five phases and takes three years to implement. You already understand that DAI remains the dominant choice for many legacy integrations. DAI originally launched on the Ethereum main network on December 18, 2017, and maintained its peg despite an 80 percent decline in Ether during its first year. In 2019, MakerDAO experienced an internal struggle regarding regulatory compliance and the integration of assets beyond cryptocurrency. The current Sky collateral mix includes 40 percent real world assets like treasury bills, 35 percent USDC via the peg stability module, and the remainder in ETH or staked ETH. MKR holders convert to SKY at a fixed 1:24,000 rate. The surplus buffer sits above $80 million to protect against bad debt. However, the USDS contract remains upgradeable, so governance could add a freeze function to the asset later.

Aave and Ethena credit models

Aave and Ethena provide alternative stablecoin models through credit and synthetic strategies. Aave’s GHO stablecoin allows users to borrow against existing Aave V3 collateral without unwinding positions. GHO supply grew past 352 million tokens in late 2025. Aave’s GHO provides an internal credit tool to manage liquidations and retain fees within the system. Aave V4 introduces a hub-and-spoke model to provide unified liquidity through different blockchain structures. Ethena produces USDe, a synthetic dollar that uses a delta-neutral hedging strategy to maintain its peg. One USDe equals $1 of ETH plus a short ETH/USD inverse perpetual position. This mechanism relies on short perpetual positions to offset the volatility of ETH prices. USDe supply reached $4.9 billion in September 2026. Ethena captures yield from staking rewards and perpetual swaps funding rates. During the October 2025 cascade, USDe traded near $0.65 on Binance while holding close to $1 onchain. While Ethena captures yield from funding rates, the USDe yield falls when funding turns negative. Aave’s GHO capacity stays tied to its governance settings and mint caps to prevent oversupply. Ethena generated close to $600 million in revenue since its inception, with over $450 million produced in the twelve months prior to late 2025.

Stablecoin infrastructure and routing

Infrastructure providers manage the movement of DAI and USDS across dozens of networks. Eco Routes provides neutral orchestration for stablecoin movement across 15 chains. The platform handles best-execution path selection and settlement for DAI, USDS, USDC, and other major assets. LI.FI acts as a generalized bridge and DEX aggregator for thousands of tokens. Users often need to move assets across chains where DAI has deeper local liquidity than USDS. A user holding DAI on Arbitrum can pay a USDC invoice on Base in a single call through Eco Routes. Squids Router uses Axelar interchain messaging to provide cross-chain swap calls. Circle uses CCTP for burn-and-mint transport for USDC specifically. The difference between DAI and USDC involves different redemption surfaces and regulatory postures, because DAI mints permissionlessly via Sky vaults while USDC relies on primary issuance through Circle Mint accounts. Does the move to a Solana-based NewChain change how liquidity settles on Ethereum?