Dai (cryptocurrency)

DAI (or DAI, formerly Sai or SAI) is a stablecoin token on the Ethereum blockchain which uses smart contracts designed to control supply to keep its value as close to one United States dollar as possible. DAI is maintained and regulated by MakerDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization composed of the owners of its governance token, MKR, who may propose and vote on changes to certain parameters in its smart contracts. MakerDAO was described in a 2020 Bloomberg article as the first example of a decentralized application to receive significant adoption. In August 2024 MakerDAO was rebranded as Sky. MakerDAO was formed in 2014 by Danish entrepreneur Rune Christensen. According to Christensen, the name of the cryptocurrency is based on the Chinese character 貸, which he translated as "to lend or to provide capital for a loan". MakerDAO was one of the earliest apps in decentralized finance, allowing users to trade and lend money to each other without intermediaries. Its stablecoin DAI is crypto-backed, most commonly with ether, although it is still pegged to the US dollar. Unlike centralized stablecoins, DAI issuance isn't controlled by one entity. On December 18, 2017, DAI was launched on the main Ethereum network.