Author: David C, Bankless, Twitter @MakerDAO; Translated by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance
MakerDAO, the DeFi giant founded in 2014 and responsible for the DAI stablecoin, has spent much of the past year working to simplify its vision and ramp up its ambitions.
The plan is called "Endgame."
Founder Rune Christensen said:
Endgame is a major update to MakerDAO that aims to improve efficiency, resilience, and participation by creating a strong governance balance that serves as the cornerstone of SubDAOs, paralleling growth and product innovation in an emerging community-driven ecosystem.
Endgame is centered around attracting new users and funds to the protocol by expanding use cases and expanding incentives. This move is intended to elevate DAI’s position in the industry, increasing its market share against centralized stablecoins such as USDT and USDC while reducing its reliance on centralized collateral.
Maker sees this as an effort to make saving money more interesting by providing users with a more diverse incentive structure within the Maker ecosystem.
Endgame is an ambitious endeavor that will likely take years to complete, and has a lot of moving parts to keep track of. Christensen recently laid out an updated timeline, so what's in store for Endgame?
Get ready for Endgame release season.
A new version of the Endgame project has been released by @RuneKek on the Maker Forum.
Endgame goes into further detail, outlining a fundamental shift in MakerDAO to increase growth, resiliency, and accessibility.
Here’s how Endgame will achieve its ultimate goal of scaling the DAI supply to 100 billion:
The final Endgame roadmap is described by 4 main phases.
1) Release season;
2) Scaling up;
3) New blockchain;
4) The final endgame.
Phase 1: Release Season
During the launch season, all of Endgame's major features will be released in rapid succession. This phase is scheduled to begin in summer 2024 and will include the following releases:
New brand unveiled:
The first release was the unveiling of MakerDAO’s new brand.
The new branding aims to communicate the project’s core pillars: making stablecoin savings fun and easy, and providing easy access to new tokens.
The launch of this new brand will be accompanied by a promotional website where early adopters will be able to sign up and receive a bonus, which will increase their earnings when new tokens become available.
New Token Release:
A month after the new branding reveal, two new tokens will be launched: NewStable and NewGovToken (the actual names will be revealed via the new branding reveal).
NewStable, the new version of Dai:
NewStable will be open to new users, and existing Dai users will be able to upgrade at will. NewStable users will also be able to freely convert their NewStable to Dai.
NewStable will be able to stake NewGovToken from the day it launches.
US residents and VPN users will not be able to participate.
NewGovToken, the new version of MKR:
MKR holders will be able to upgrade their MKR to NewGovToken, and NewGovToken can also be converted back to MKR.
The supply of NewGovToken is revalued: 1 MKR is upgraded to 24,000 NewGovToken. This means that each MKR holder can choose to receive 24,000 NewGovToken for each MKR they upgrade.
Lockstake Engine starts:
Following the launch of the new token, the Lockstake Engine (LSE) will be launched, which aims to align stakeholder interests with the success of the protocol and encourage long-term governance participation.
Through the London Stock Exchange, MKR and NewGovToken holders will be able to swap their locked tokens, with 1 MKR equivalent to 24,000 NewGovTokens.
Users who lock their tokens can generate NewStable from protocol surplus and upcoming SubDAO tokens, including SPK.
A 15% exit fee on withdrawals from the LSE would encourage long-term commitment and governance participation.
LSE will not be available to US residents or VPN users.
NewGovToken launches airdrop:
Early adopters will receive NewGovTokens through the promotional website and unlock them during the launch airdrop when the LSE launches. This will allow them to enjoy the benefits of the London Stock Exchange immediately.
NewBridge introduces:
After the launch of LSE, NewBridge will be launched, connecting NewStable, NewGovToken, and other tokens from the Maker ecosystem from Ethereum to the main L2. The official name of NewBridge will be announced during the brand launch event.
SparkDAO startup:
The highlight of the launch season was the long-awaited launch of SparkDAO, the SPK token, and SPK.
Spark offers innovative lending and DeFi products that leverage the power of MakerDAO economics.
With this launch, SPK tokens will be available for NewStable users to use for yield farming on Ethereum mainnet and major L2s. With this launch, LSE users will also be able to earn SPK.
SPK tokens will be able to mine NewGovTokens immediately. This opportunity will be available on the Ethereum mainnet and major L2s.
SPK liquidity mining will not be available for US residents and VPN users.
SPK tokens will be available for claiming at the launch of SparkDAO.
Phase 2: Scaling Up
Phase 2 focuses on expanding upon Endgame’s basic primitives.
This means that more SubDAOs will be created, such as a SubDAO focused on RWA or a SubDAO focused on gaming. In total, 6 SubDAOs will be launched in Phase 2.
Each SubDAO will cater to different market segments and community interests.
Finally, SubDAOs will have full autonomy over their activities within the boundaries set by MakerDAO.
The implementation of SubDAO governance will be complemented by an effective user interface and AI-driven tools to facilitate and simplify governance decisions.
Phase 3: NewChain
In the third phase, NewChain will be launched as an independent L1 blockchain.
It will host the core token economics and governance mechanisms for Maker Core and SubDAO.
In addition, it will act as a hub for RWA, DeFi, and inter-blockchain bridging through the NewBridge system.
NewChain is an extension of the Maker ecosystem. Its launch does not indicate that Maker intends to leave Ethereum. All user-facing products that currently exist on Ethereum will remain, and new products will be launched.
Once NewChain is up and running, the SubDAO ecosystem will be able to scale infinitely, creating a greater number of SubDAOs at a faster pace.
Stage 4: Finale
With the activation of Final Endgame, Maker Core’s underlying governance mechanism will be permanently locked.
This will realize Endgame’s ultimate vision: to create a vibrant and evolving ecosystem based on a reliable and immutable, sustainable financial infrastructure.
Summarize
MakerDAO’s Endgame strategy represents an undeniably ambitious vision to expand a solid and diverse financial ecosystem for DAI.
Given that Endgame’s various phases span multiple years and contain as many subplots as an Avengers movie, it is almost certain that some elements of this vision will change and evolve. In the coming months, several significant governance changes will be introduced to prepare for this transformation.
Overall, Endgame lays the foundation not only for DeFi, but also for DAOs, with the potential to reshape governance models.
There’s still a long road ahead, but Maker’s evolution as one of the most fundamental DeFi protocols into a more sustainable entity that aims to provide a permissionless foundation for DeFi should be an effort that everyone in the industry shapes and participates in.