Total Value Locked in Maker Reaches a Record High as Maker Foundation Returns Dev Fund to DAO

Maker's total value locked (TVL) surged to $12.02B, hitting a record high amid Maker Foundation's announcement that it would refund 84,000 MKR from the development fund to the MakerDAO.

Maker Foundation returns dev fund to DAO amid path to decentralization

The Maker Foundation has returned 84,000 MKR to the project’s DAO in a major milestone for the protocol’s road to decentralization. The MakerDAO Foundation has returned 84,000 MKR tokens from its development fund to MakerDAO’s governance module, marking a milestone in the project’s path to decentralization. In a May 3 blog post, the foundation notes that “no conditions or expectations” have been placed on MakerDAO regarding the returned tokens, with Maker Governance now having complete control over the tokens. The announcement states that with the return of the development and the completion of recent technical contributions to Maker’s liquidation engine and its DAO’s core unit framework, the foundation will now focus on working toward its own dissolution to further decentralize the protocol: “The Foundation now turns inward to focus solely on its dissolution.“ To manage and finance its transition to obsolescence, the Maker Foundation has retained less than one percent of MKR’s supply.

Maker Foundation Sends $480 Million to MakerDAO Before It Dissolves

The Foundation believes its work is nearly done, and MKR surged to a record price.

'From dial-up to broadband': Banco Santander exec talks up DLT utilization in finance

Regulated decentralized finance that combines permissioned layer-two protocols and a public blockchain network could be the future of fintech. John Whelan, the head of Banco Santander’s blockchain lab in Madrid, recently touted the potential for increased decentralized ledger technology adoption in mainstream finance. Speaking during a webinar organized by Fintech Surge and the Future Blockchain Summit on Wednesday, Whelan remarked: “I could imagine a future where there is a global settlement network for an asset class of securities that operates in a fully controlled, private, permissioned layer-two on top of a public blockchain network.” While acknowledging that current public blockchain networks might not be optimized for high-frequency transactions, Whelan highlighted their suitability for settlements in the financial services arena. “Settlement is not something that has to happen instantaneously,” Whelan stated, adding: “Usually in the financial market, settlement is T+5 — we agree on a trade and we wait five days for settlement.” For Whelan, stakeholders in the financial services industry see significant potential in reducing the settlement throughput via blockchain networks. The Banco Santander digital asset chief also stated that DLT utilization in mainstream finance needs to reach a point where ERC-20, or any other blockchain-based token standard, becomes suitable for use in what Whelan termed “regulated DeFi” or “reg-DeFi.” Earlier in April, Rune Christensen, CEO of decentralized finance unicorn MakerDAO, stated that DeFi will require regulatory clarity to move from its current isolated bubble phase toward more significant interfacing with mainstream finance. Whelan also touched on the recent announcement that Banco Santander was one of three financial institutions selected by the European Investment Bank to issue a two-year 100-million-euro ($120 million) digital bond.

Top Three DeFi Lenders on Ethereum Hold Record $25 Billion in Deposits

The big three of Aave, Compound, and MakerDAO collectively had a record Q1.

MakerDAO moves to expand collateral assets and upgrade liquidation engine

The new liquidation engine has been designed to offer Maker’s users greater predictability and security.

Maker (MKR) Token Hits a New High as MakerDAO's First Financing Proposal Gets Approved

The market value of altcoins broke through $1 trillion for the first time, and MAKER successfully attracted the attention of investors.

Shift toward full decentralization pushes Maker (MKR) price above $4K

Maker price rallies to a new all-time high as the MakerDAO community makes preparations to become fully decentralized. Stablecoins have become a significant foundational piece for the cryptocurrency sector because they serve as a deeply liquid base pair for most assets and also offer investors a secure place to capture gains.

DeFi needs regulatory clarity to interface with ‘real-world’ finance, experts say

Decentralized finance protocols and regulatory agencies need to figure out DeFi regulations to enable the niche crypto market to integrate with real-world finance. Rune Christensen, founder and CEO of DeFi bluechip MakerDAO, says the decentralized finance space is set to move from its current isolated bubble phase toward more integration with the broader financial landscape. Christensen made this known during Tuesday’s plenary session “Behind the Decentralized Finance Hype” at the ongoing Global Technology Governance Summit organized by the World Economic Forum. According to the MakerDAO CEO, DeFi protocols interacting with real-world assets, such as commercial real estate and trade financing, will require significant regulatory input, stating: “The huge difference between the primordial soup of DeFi building and DeFi in the real world is that now you have to engage with regulation and laws.” Indeed, the dematerialization of securities is an already existing example of the emerging asset tokenization trend.

Are emerging markets missing out on DeFi due to gas fees?

Developed economies dominate the traffic rankings for the top DeFi protocols by TVL, with the US and UK topping the charts. Despite grand visions of enabling farmers in Vietnam access to the world of global finance via Decentralized Finance, emerging markets could represent as little 10% of visitors engaging with the top DeFi DApps.  Proponents have long hoped crypto and DeFi would allow citizens around the world a means to circumvent the barriers created by economic underdevelopment, however the data suggest users from the world’s largest economies dominate the DeFi rankings by online traffic. A new report from The Defiant examines the top five geographical sources of traffic for the 10 largest DeFi platforms by Total Value Locked in February, with the data provided by web traffic aggregator SimilarWeb. The analysis finds that US traffic dominates eight of the 10 largest DApps by TVL, representing between roughly 10% and 27% of traffic on MakerDAO, Compound, Aave, SushiSwap, Uniswap, Synthetic, Bancor, and BadgerDAO respectively.

After Yearn exploit, attacker funds frozen and reimbursement plans developing

Seized funds bring the damage down to $9 million as multiple communities ponder the next step in reimbursing user funds Following an exploit last night that cost yield vault project Yearn.finance $11 million in stablecoin DAI, crypto community members from multiple projects have rallied to mitigate the effects, reclaim exploited funds, and reimburse affected users.  First reported by the project at 5:09 pm EST, the exploit was a complex arbitration attack on Yearn’s version 1 DAI yield vault.