Sky rebrand to Maker rejected as whale votes dominate

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As a seasoned researcher with years of experience in the cryptocurrency market, I find the recent governance vote on Sky’s rebranding back to Maker quite intriguing. The concentration of voting power among a few “whales” is not uncommon in this space, but it’s always fascinating to see how these behemoths can sway the tide.

As a crypto investor, I found myself disappointed when Sky’s proposal to revert back to its original brand name Maker was vetoed in a governance vote that was heavily influenced by four prominent figures within the community, often referred to as ‘whales.’

On November 8th, Sky declared that their proposition for rebranding back to Maker was turned down. As a result, they will carry on utilizing the Sky brand as the main backend protocol within their ecosystem.

The Sky governance forum’s data indicates that approximately 18.5% of votes were cast by one whale who pledged 14,800 MKR tokens, supporting a partial refresh of the Maker brand. On the other hand, slightly more than 2.2% of users opted to fully revert the “Maker” brand back to its original state in the voting process.

It’s worth noting that only four whales held most of the voting rights, accounting for a collective 98% of the total votes through their 62,452 MKR tokens. This was in support of maintaining the Sky brand.

One community member poked fun at the vote results, suggesting that influence within the “community” is concentrated among a few.

Bruh…

— pDAI Xs to $1.00 (@pDAI_to_Dollar) November 7, 2024

As per Sky’s report, the outcome matches their initial strategy for shifting the main brand of the ecosystem from MKR to Sky.

A month following the Sky rebrand in August, there was a move to revert back to being known as Maker. This change came about after their governance token, previously known as MKR, had been replaced by SKY. Similarly, the protocol’s stablecoin, DAI, underwent a name change and is now referred to as Sky Dollar with the ticker USDS.

As a researcher, I’ve recently addressed the feedback and uncertainty within our community that arose following the rebranding, as I myself observed a significant number of users expressing confusion about the purpose of the Sky token. This was highlighted by Maker co-founder Rune Christensen in his Nov. 4 proposal.

Earlier on, certain community members expressed worries regarding USDS’s decentralization, as it has the capability to be frozen by its issuer, which could potentially restrict the token.

Instead, proponents of the Sky branding are encouraging the community to concentrate on the Endgame roadmap suggested by Christensen in 2022, as well as the overarching vision guiding the rebrand.

The rebranding of Maker to Sky was significantly misconstrued, and understanding why it has been such a resounding success is crucial. Here are two key achievements:

— DMH | Devcon (@DeFi_Made_Here) October 16, 2024

In a Nov. 4 update, Vance Spencer, partner at Framework Ventures, stated that Sky’s rebranding aims to foster the protocol’s expansion by introducing novel offerings such as the launch of compliant decentralized stablecoins, collaborations with platforms like Aave, and the deployment of new features on Solana and Ethereum Layer 2.

Spencer stated that while the project’s rollout has been hampered by its timing and restricted exchange compatibility, he remains optimistic about its future due to the potential for significant value discovery by adhering to the “Endgame blueprint.

Despite this, the response from the community appears to be favorable, as both MKR and SKY experienced a rise of more than 3% at the time of writing.

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2024-11-08 15:43