What is Maker (MKR)?
Among the biggest dApps (decentralized applications) on the Ethereum ecosystem, a disparate group filled with developers was behind the design of the Maker Protocol, with the MakerDAO being responsible for its governance.
Inception and Development of MakerDAO
The Maker ecosystem’s history is that of various stages, with the first being the MakerDAO. Rune Christensen was responsible for its formation in 2014; he is a University of Copenhagen graduate and an entrepreneur of Danish origins.
The next in line to launch was DAI, which did so on Ethereum in 2017, and after that, in the following year, the Maker Foundation was formed, a firm dedicated to encouraging the ecosystem’s growth while decentralizing development.
Finally, 2019 saw the development of the MCD system, which essentially allowed any Ethereum-based asset to be collateralized. However, this would have to first be approved by Maker’s community.
Importance of MKR in DeFi Ecosystem
Based on Ethereum, Maker seeks to solve the various volatility issues that exist within the cryptocurrency market, which is foundational to DeFi.
Moreover, it forms the basis for an entirely new banking system based on the blockchain, allowing for quicker and easier payments internationally along with P2P (peer-to-peer) transactions.
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How Does Maker Work?
Here, we will briefly discuss a few of the things that get the Maker Protocol working, particularly the MKR token’s role, CDPs, and stability fees.
Role of MKR Token in the MakerDAO System
If you wish to have a role in making vital decisions regarding how the Maker Protocol functions, then you need to hold some MKR. This is because the more of it one holds, the more one has a say concerning the cryptocurrencies that are to be utilized within the protocol or what assets within the real world will be used in the generation of DAI.
Concept of Collateralized Debt Positions (CDPs)
A CDP, i.e., a collateralized debt position, refers to the process by which collateral is locked within MakerDAO’s smart contracts to produce DAI, its decentralized stablecoin.
Stability Fees and Their Importance
It is a fee that has to be paid if collateral is to be retrieved from smart contracts. It’s a percentage yield that is calculated annually on top of the amount of DAI generated. Moreover, this fee is used as a mechanism for maintaining the stablecoin’s peg.
Maker’s Smart Contracts
Let’s now shift our attention towards its smart contracts and how they impact the protocol they’re based on.
How Smart Contracts Manage Collateral Assets
Within Maker, to facilitate the onboarding of collateralized assets, a bunch of smart contracts have been developed to offer a safe method of locking collateral and launching the vaults, through which users can mint DAI.
Also, these smart contracts are use-case-specific, and through their iterations, abstractions manage to standardize technical incorporation, which offers a secure, recyclable, and effective procedure for the onboarding of new collateral.
Risk Parameters of MakerDAO Smart Contracts
CDPs have numerous risk parameters that dictate their usage. Every CDP type includes its own unique parameters, which are further based on the collateral’s risk profile.
DAI Stablecoin
Moving on to its stablecoin, DAI, here we will examine the relationship it has with MKR and how it maintains its peg to the US dollar.
Relationship Between DAI and MKR
The primary relationship between the two, as alluded to earlier, is how MKR is used as a governance token to determine how much DAI is to be generated and the DAI savings rates and stability fees.
Mechanism to Maintain DAI’s Peg to US Dollar
Its peg is maintained primarily through increasing or decreasing DAI savings rates and stability fees.
Savings rates here refer to the rate at which DAI holders can earn by saving DAI on the Maker Protocol.
MKR Tokenomics
Outlined below are some statistics pertaining to the MKR token and its purpose within the Maker ecosystem.
Supply and Distribution
The maximum supply of the MKR token is slightly over 1 million tokens, and its total supply is over 970,000. Its circulating supply, on the other hand, is a bit over 900,000.
Value Accrual Mechanisms
The stability fees, after being collected from every DAI mintage or loan, are used to purchase MKR from its open market, which can later be burned.
Hence, the stability fees and the burning mechanism serve as the main mechanisms by which value for the MKR can be accrued.
Governance in MakerDAO
Besides serving as a means to adjust the numerous parameters of its stablecoin, DAI’s peg, governance within the MakerDAO is utilized within voting on the protocol’s very management, i.e., the direction it is supposed to go in, as dictated by the community. Other than that, it can also include public governance votes, forums, polls, and even executive votes.
Market Analysis
Now, let us take a brief look at the current market for the MKR token and how it has been performing lately.
MKR Market Performance
Surprisingly, the MKR token has been performing well lately and is up by nearly 90% over the past year, in that it has required quite a lot from the bear market.
Factors influencing MKR’s price
Besides the factors already mentioned, the recent surge in its value could probably be attributed to the program it launched this year called the Smart Burn Engine, which seeks to remove it from the market.
So, the removal of nearly 7 million dollars worth of MKR, blended with that general rise in demand, increased its value significantly.
Investment Perspective
The token is on track to rise due to how it has been performing lately, so now may be a good time if you’re interested in this token, or protocol as a whole, and are looking to invest.
How to Purchase MKR Tokens on Binance
If what has been mentioned so far about the Maker protocol has gotten you interested in buying some MKR tokens, then look no further, for we will show how you can do that on Binance.
Registration and KYC Verification
Starting with registration, that can be done by clicking on the link below, which will take you directly to Binance’s registration page with a special Coin Labs referral code. Fill in what’s asked of you then on its registration page, which will include the usual, i.e., your email address and password, among other things.
Once your account has been created, verifying it should come next if you want to trade without experiencing any hurdles. So, that can be done by heading over to its verification page and adding information involving your identity. The next step would then be to prove what you have entered by providing a few photos of some important documents.
Setting Up Two-factor Authentication
To increase your newly created account’s security, you may want to set up 2FA for it. That can be done by heading to its security page and following the instructions that Binance will outline after clicking the 2FA option.
Depositing Funds into Binance Account
Next comes depositing some funds so that you can use them to eventually buy some MKR. Now, that can be done by going to its deposit page, choosing a token, the network for it, specifying the amount, and then pasting the deposit address that will be generated into an external wallet or exchange to send the funds from there.
To learn more about how to deposit on Binance click here.
Navigating and Buying MKR Tokens
Once done with deposits, you can use the various options available on Binance to buy the MKR token, the simplest and quickest of which would obviously be its convert feature. Through this, you can essentially swap whatever you have deposited on Binance for the MKR token.
Other options would include its spot and futures pages. However, those may take a while to get the hang of if you’re a beginner and may generally take a while depending on the kind of order being placed.
Withdrawal to a Secure Wallet
After finally getting a hold of those MKR tokens, you might want to transfer them to a wallet and a secure one at that, considering how much each can be worth.
Currently, the safest option would be using cold wallets to store those funds offline, where they will be much less susceptible to any online threats.
So, head over to Binance’s withdrawal page and transfer the amount you want.
Future Developments
What might the future hold for the Maker Protocol? Let’s delve a bit into that below.
MakerDAO’s vision and roadmap
According to its own whitepaper, the protocol seeks to generate an independent system that only smart contracts can control. It wants individuals to experience financial freedom without any repercussions from volatility, all while having a say in how things are run.
As for roadmaps, interestingly enough, the protocol did announce a slew of numerous important and exciting updates to the ecosystem, with a particular emphasis on AI and the development of a new blockchain! These updates form part of a five-phase roadmap known as “Endgame.”
Conclusion
The Maker Protocol was among the first projects that garnered substantial adoption within the DeFi sector and is governed efficiently by its own community filled with MKR holders.
Furthermore, it provides its users with a chance to have their own voice reflected within the management of what might just be one of the biggest stablecoins in terms of market capitalization, while incentivizing them to vote in a responsible manner.
We Coin-Labs.com provides only objective information about Maker.
Therefore, we are not responsible for the investment decision in Maker and the resulting loss.
Maker Basics
Here are some factors that investors should consider before investing in Maker.
| Cryptocurrency Features | Maker (MKR) |
|---|---|
| Publisher or Developers | Rune Christensen |
| Headquarters (Registration Number) | San Francisco |
| Symbol | MKR |
| Platform | Ethereum |
| Published Date (CMC Registration) | 2024-09-15 |
| Max Supply | 1,005,577 MKR |
Reliability Score of Maker in 2024
These are indexes mesuring the investment reliability of Maker conducted by Coin-Labs.com.
| Investment Reliability Rating Items | Scores and Current Status |
|---|---|
| Company Activation Rate | / 10.0 CAR |
| Communication Rate | / 10.0 CR |
| Technology Transparency Rate | / 10.0 TTR |
| Development Participation Rate | / 10.0 DPR |
| Listing Status on the World's Top 10 Exchanges | Listed on 10 Exchanges |
| Number of Available Pairs Worldwide | 505 Pairs |
| Market Cap of the Cryptocurrency | 1,771,952,544 USD (Rank #45) |
The table above shows the result of investment suitability evaluation for Maker.
Check out how we evaluate cryptocurrencies on the crypto rating description page.
Maker Price
Here are the price and recent trading volume of Maker. (Data of 2024-09-16 04:55:00)
| Price Items | Price and Trading Volume of Maker |
|---|---|
| Maker Price | 1,568.507 USD |
| Price Change 24h | -1.28% |
| Price Change 7d | 3.01% |
| Trading Volume 24h | 28,848,916 USD |
| Trading Volume Change 24h | -39.09% |
Cryptocurrency Metadata
You can check the development status and social media information of Maker through the links in the table below.
| Metadata Source | URL |
|---|---|
| 🌎 Official Website | https://makerdao.com/ |
| 📖 White Paper | https://makerdao.com/en/whitepaper/#overview-of-the-dai-stablecoin-system |
| 🛰️ Source Code (GitHub) | https://github.com/makerdao |
| https://twitter.com/MakerDAO | |
| https://reddit.com/r/MakerDAO | |
| 🎺 Message Board |
Where to Buy Maker
Here are the top ten world crypto exchanges where traders can buy Maker in 2024.
| Top10 Exchanges | Listed Status | Page URL |
|---|---|---|
| Binance | Listed | https://www.binance.com/en/trade/MKR_BTC |
| Coinbase | Listed | https://pro.coinbase.com/trade/MKR-USD |
| Kraken | Listed | https://pro.kraken.com/app/trade/mkr-usd |
| KuCoin | Listed | https://www.kucoin.com/trade/MKR-USDT |
| Bitfinex | Listed | https://trading.bitfinex.com/t/MKR:USD?type=exchange |
| OKX | Listed | https://www.okx.com/trade-spot/mkr-usdt |
| Huobi | Listed | https://www.huobi.com/en-us/trade/mkr_usdt?type=spot |
| Bitstamp | Listed | https://www.bitstamp.net/markets/mkr/usd/ |
| Bybit | Listed | https://www.bybit.com/en-US/trade/spot/MKR/USDT |
| Gate.io | Listed | https://www.gate.io/trade/MKR_USDT |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the current price of Maker?
Maker price today is 1,568.507 USD. Furthermore, the price of Maker has fluctuated by -1.28% from 24 hours ago, and by 3.01% from a week ago.
Where is Maker listed?
Currently, it is listed on a total of 10 among the world top 10 exchanges.
What is the market cap of Maker now?
Currently, Maker has a market cap of 1,771,952,544 USD, which is ranking 45 among cryptocurrencies worldwide.
How much is the trade volume of Maker?
Currently, 933,298 MKR coins are circulating through 505 market pairs. As a result, in the last 24 hours, 28,848,916 USD of MKR coins were traded in the market.
