Not only a change in name, but also a change in brand recognition.
Author: Deep Tide TechFlow
Let me introduce you to a new project called Sky.
When this word appears, besides feeling unfamiliar, do you also feel that this ordinary and common name should correspond to a "Sky" project that can be launched into the sky tomorrow?
It's hard to imagine that this is a rebranding by MakerDAO, a pioneer in DeFi and crypto stablecoin DAI.
On August 27th, MakerDAO announced its plan to rebrand as Sky, and upgrade its own tokens and stablecoins to the new names SKY and Sky Dollar (USDS).
From MakerDAO to Sky, it's not just a change in name, but also a change in brand recognition.
For applications with enough weight, it's very difficult to take away a word from the user's mind. For example, you may still be used to calling a certain social media software "Twitter" instead of "X", and calling tweets and CT instead of "posts on X".
The position of MakerDAO in the crypto ecosystem may be no less than that of Twitter in social media.
So, knowing it's not easy, what changes does the new Sky have, and what is the rebranding all about?
Changes in business and assets?
What users are most concerned about is whether the assets will be affected after MakerDAO is rebranded as Sky.
According to the latest official announcement from Sky, the original MKR and DAI tokens will be upgraded to the new SKY and USDS (Sky Dollar) tokens. This upgrade process follows the following rules:
- Conversion from MKR to SKY:
Every 1 MKR can be exchanged for 24,000 SKY tokens. This ratio is fixed, meaning that MKR holders will receive the corresponding number of new governance tokens SKY after the conversion.
- Conversion from DAI to USDS:
The exchange ratio between DAI and USDS will remain 1:1. This means that every 1 DAI held by users can be directly exchanged for 1 USDS, ensuring the continuity of stablecoin value.
It is worth noting that this token upgrade is based on a voluntary basis. Users can choose whether to convert their MKR and DAI to the new tokens. This gives community members more choices.
For users holding MKR, they will retain their corresponding governance rights after converting to SKY. Sky promises that the new governance model will be more efficient and transparent.
At the same time, Sky has provided a user-friendly migration tool to help users easily complete the conversion process from old tokens to new tokens.
However, from the official website, it seems that only over 370 users have completed this migration, indicating that there is still some resistance in community education and promotion.
In order to encourage more people to migrate to the new SKY tokens, the team announced an additional incentive mechanism. Users who complete the token migration during the beta period will receive a 1.25x reward in SKY and USDS tokens.
What's the rebranding all about?
For most people, MakerDAO's rebranding seems a bit abrupt, and there have been some negative voices in the community.
For example, although the name has been changed to Sky, the old Twitter account @MakerDAO seems to have not been properly handled, and an unknown account named MakerDAO has been registered and played with.
In the comments section of the official announcement of the rebranding to Sky, in addition to simple congratulatory comments, opposing voices are also frequently seen.
Well-known KOL @stacy_muur raised three soul-searching questions:
"MakerDAO was a good brand, what's the problem? Why are you all so keen on rebranding? Why are you hurting the mature brand recognition?"
So, what is the rebranding of Sky all about? Perhaps we can find some clues in a blog post by MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen back in May, titled "Reconciling the Two Opposing Paths for Decentralized Stablecoins".
In this article, Christensen elaborated on the key challenges and future development direction facing MakerDAO, laying the groundwork for this rebranding:
- Dealing with regulatory pressure
Christensen mentioned in the article that decentralized stablecoins are facing unprecedented regulatory pressure. Especially in the United States, regulatory agencies have increasingly strict attitudes towards cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins. In this environment, MakerDAO needs to reposition itself to adapt to the constantly changing regulatory landscape. Rebranding as Sky may be to draw a clear line with the past identity and create greater flexibility for future development.
- Technological upgrades and restructuring
The article actually pointed out that MakerDAO needs to undergo major technological upgrades. This includes improving smart contracts, optimizing governance mechanisms, and enhancing the system's scalability.
So the logic here is that rebranding as Sky not only represents a change in brand, but also signifies a comprehensive overhaul of the underlying technological architecture. For crypto projects, such a thorough change usually requires a new brand image to reflect, such as Fantom's Sonic, and so on.
- Mass adoption requires new brand recognition
In order to make stablecoins more widely known and adopted, compliance with regulations is a prerequisite, but simplifying brand recognition is equally important. The name "MakerDAO" may seem obscure to people outside the cryptocurrency community. "Sky," on the other hand, is simple, easy to remember, and helps attract a wider user base, especially those who are not very familiar with cryptocurrencies.
A wave of rebranding, a new trend in crypto?
In fact, MakerDAO is not the only one rebranding.
In the past year or two, rebranding of crypto projects has gradually become a new trend.
When the old coin becomes boring and speculators want something new, it always sounds more exciting to change the brand name, create a new token symbol, and start with a new price curve.
For example, Fantom became Sonic, several AI projects including FET merged into ASI, Galaxy was renamed Galxe and then became Gravit… Rebranding is not uncommon in the crypto market.
According to recent statistical data on analysis of cryptocurrency upgrade and merger cases, rebranding, token migration, or merger does not guarantee immediate and/or long-term positive price trends.
Therefore, projects must ensure that there are sufficient reasons and solid grounds to support "why migrate or merge." Only in this way can they gain logical and business legitimacy, and provide a correct reason for token speculation.
MakerDAO becoming Sky clearly follows this trend of rebranding in the crypto market.
However, whether its token and business development will be qualitatively improved, and whether it will change fundamentally after the change in appearance, still needs time to provide an answer.
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