DAI was launched in 2017 and was developed by the folks over at Maker. Maker is trying to develop a line of decentralised stablecoins that will be tied to other assets. They have issued two tokens namely the Maker MKR and the DAI stablecoin.
DAI is able to maintain the peg through a careful balance of economic incentives and game theory. Essentially, the system creates arbitrage opportunities every time there is a deviation from the 1 to 1 peg.
Given that the DAI stablecoin is an ERC20 token, this means that you can easily store and transfer it like any other Ethereum based token.
⚙️ Technology ⚙️
Users can borrow DAI by placing their cryptocurrency into what the Maker team calls a ‘Vault’. Currently, the collateral can be Ethereum or Brave’s BAT token.
If there are any deviations from the one dollar peg then the user can either issue DAI or redeeem it easily. This will then see them making a profit on the arbitrage opportunity that opened up.
The incentive mechanism also means that the economics adjusts the supply & demand in the market in order to balance the outstanding DAI.
The MakerDAO vaults are also overcollateralised which means that there will be more etheruem in the vault than DAI outstanding.
💰️ Multicollateral vs. Single Collateral 💰
The main benefit of MCD is that you could use more than just ETH in the CDPs. You could also use Bat tokens and they are assessing the possibility of other tokens such as Augur’s Rep.
There is also that name change from CDP to ‘Vaults’. You also have the multicollateral variant adopting the DAI ticker whereas the single collateral type will now be SAI.
You also have some changes to the stability fee. With the single collateral DAI, these were paid in Maker tokens. Now, with the launch of MCD, these stability fees can be paid in DAI.
You also have something called the DAI savings rate or DSR. As the name implies, this is a method through which DAI holders can earn returns on their stablecoin.
👨💻️ DeFi Hub 👨💻
The DeFi hub brings together three key features of the Maker ecosystem into one simplistic user experience. You have Oasis Trade, Oasis Borrow and Oasis Save.
Oasis Trade is basically a Decentralised exchange that allows you to trade your DAI for other ERC20 tokens such as Ethereum and Augur’s REP.
Oasis Borrow is where you can unlock DAI by creating a vault. Through this interface you can borrow the DAI by locking up Ethereum or BAT.
The savings part of the hub is where you can lock up your DAI and earn the savings rate that is currently set at 8%.
📈 Trading & Wallets 📈
DAI is a pretty popular stablecoin and is listed on a number of exchanges. Some of the best exchanges for you to trade it are Coinbase Pro, Kraken and Binance. There is volume on a number of other exchanges as well. You have pretty decent liquidity across all of these exchanges.
Given that the DAI is an ERC20 token you can use any wallet that supports Etheruem. There is quite a list of them but your best bet is probably to go with a hardware wallet like a ledger nano or a trezor.
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📜 Disclaimer 📜
The information contained herein is for informational purposes only. Nothing herein shall be construed to be financial legal or tax advice. The content of this video is solely the opinions of the speaker who is not a licensed financial advisor or registered investment advisor. Trading Forex, cryptocurrencies and CFDs poses considerable risk of loss. The speaker does not guarantee any particular outcome.
