Maker Price

Maker is the governance token of the Maker Protocol that manages the Dai stablecoin.

Maker was first described in a whitepaper published by MakerDAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization or DAO, in 2017. MakerDAO developed Dai, a crypto-collateralized stablecoin, and the Maker Protocol, the system of smart contracts that underpin Dai. Maker grants holders the ability to participate in the scientific governance of the Maker Protocol. Holders can vote on changes to the Maker Protocol and thereby manage the financial risks of Dai.

Token

Maker (MKR) is built on Ethereum in accordance with the ERC20 standard for tokens. Its holders can vote on the following (among other things):

• New Collateral – Modify the Maker Protocol to accept a new asset for the purposes of creating and collateralizing Dai.
• Collateral Risk Parameters – Add or modify the risk parameters for an asset already accepted by the Maker Protocol as collateral for Dai.
• Stability Fee – Increase or decrease the floating interest rate charged to users who borrow Dai.
• Dai Savings Rate – Raise or lower the floating interest rate paid to Dai holders who deposit their Dai into the Dai Savings Rate contract.

MKR can be stored in a crypto wallet and custodian like Gemini.

Black Thursday

On March 13, 2020, a day referred to as ‘Black Thursday,’ a number of Dai loans became significantly undercollateralized. After the Maker Protocol executed Collateral Auctions, a collateral shortfall of ~5.4 million Dai remained. On March 29, 2020, the Maker Protocol minted 20,980 MKR and auctioned them for 5.3 million Dai, which were subsequently burned and taken out of circulation.

Maker website

Maker whitepaper (2017)

Learn more about Maker on Cryptopedia:

1. What Is MakerDAO?
2. How MakerDAO Pioneered Decentralized Finance