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Editorial policyUse Sky at sky.money when you want USDS or the Sky Savings Rate (sUSDS), not a permissionless AMM. SparkLend is the Sky-aligned lending market. Skip Sky if you wanted Uniswap or you only needed legacy DAI mechanics — that history still lives on our MakerDAO page. Educational research, not financial advice.
Sky is MakerDAO’s Endgame name: USDS, the Sky Savings Rate (sUSDS), SKY governance, and SparkLend. Verdict-first guide on what changed from DAI and who should still read the Maker page.
Market context
DeFiLlamaAs of 23 September 2026, What is Sky Protocol? USDS, sUSDS and When to Skip It reports approximately $5.72B total value locked in the cdp category across Ethereum.
Skip Sky if you wanted a decentralised exchange, you cannot accept a governance-set savings rate, or you thought USDS was USDC. Sky is a CDP and savings stack descended from MakerDAO. Rates and parameters move with governance, not a bank board.
Related comparisons
Yes — if you want the Maker-descended dollar stack under the Sky brand: USDS, sUSDS savings, and SparkLend. Skip it if you wanted a DEX or a fiat-backed coin with an issuer redemption desk like USDC. DAI still exists alongside the transition; do not assume every ‘Sky’ product is DAI.
DeFiLlama snapshot 2026-09-23: about $5.7 billion TVL for this listing. That is lockup, not a safety rating — re-check the live figure before you size anything.
Sky is the Endgame rebrand of MakerDAO. USDS is the current dollar token for new products; sUSDS accrues the Sky Savings Rate. SKY replaced MKR as the governance ticker. SparkLend is a SubDAO lending market, not Aave. Read Spark separately if you want to borrow.
| Name | Job | Skip when |
|---|---|---|
| USDS | Sky dollar token | You needed USDC issuer redemption |
| sUSDS | Savings rate wrapper | You wanted a DEX LP |
| DAI | Legacy Maker dollar | You are starting fresh — read USDS too |
| SparkLend | Sky lending | You wanted Aave’s asset list |
USDC is a fiat-backed issuer coin. USDS is crypto-collateral governance money from the Maker and Sky line. Ethena’s USDe is a basis-trade synthetic. They are not interchangeable. Peg, issuer, and contract risk differ. Check a live peg tracker, not a slogan.
| Want | Use | Skip Sky when |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer dollar | USDC | You wanted on-chain-only mint |
| Maker-line dollar | USDS / Sky | You wanted Circle redemption |
| Synthetic / basis | USDe | You wanted payment-stablecoin reserves |
| Variable lending | Aave or SparkLend | You only wanted savings rate |
Governance parameter changes, collateral quality, and savings-rate cuts. A rebrand does not erase smart-contract history. SparkLend adds lending risk on top of holding USDS. This desk does not treat a savings rate as a guaranteed coupon you can spend like a bank APY.
The site we name is sky.money. SparkLend is a separate lending surface. Maker history still lives on our MakerDAO page. This page is whether USDS and sUSDS are the dollar stack you wanted versus Circle USDC or Ethena’s USDe synthetic.
FAQ
MakerDAO’s Endgame brand: USDS, sUSDS, SKY, and SparkLend, at sky.money. It is a CDP and savings stack, not a DEX and not Circle USDC.
No. DAI continues during the transition. New products are documented as USDS. Do not assume every Sky product is DAI or that DAI has vanished.
No. It is a governance-set on-chain rate with smart-contract risk. Parameters can change. It is not deposit-insured.
No. Educational research only. We do not recommend minting USDS, holding sUSDS, or buying SKY.
MakerDAO is the original ETH-backed CDP that issued DAI. Verdict-first guide on when this page is history and when you should read Sky Protocol for USDS and sUSDS instead.
SparkLend is a decentralised lending protocol built by Phoenix Labs and deeply integrated with Sky Protocol (formerly MakerDAO), holding over $3.3 billion in TVL. This guide explains how SparkLend works, its relationship to USDS and sDAI, how it compares to Aave, and answers the most frequently searched questions about the protocol.
Aave is the default multi-chain DeFi lending market. V4 (Ethereum, 30 March 2026) uses a Hub for liquidity and Spokes for the market you actually click. Supply for a variable rate, or borrow and watch health factor — including V4’s target-health-factor liquidations.