Quick Take
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MakerDAO rebrands to Sky.
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Ethereum Foundation spend breakdown.
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Node Operator Risk Standard (NORS).
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Balancer expands to the Superchain.
MakerDAO Rebrands To Sky
MakerDAO, the largest CDP-based stablecoin protocol, has rebranded to Sky, focusing on user accessibility. The rebrand introduces an optional migration from DAI to a new stablecoin, USDS, and from MKR to a new governance token, SKY. Sky.money will serve as the user interface for token migrations, staking, and CDP creation. The rebrand also introduces native token rewards in SKY tokens for users who stake USDS. The upgrade is set to go live on September 18th. MakerDAO's SubDAOs, like Spark Protocol, were also rebranded to Stars. Each Star will also have its own governance token. Certain protocol features are restricted in regions such as the US.
Ethereum Foundation Spend Breakdown
Ethereum Foundation member Josh Stark provided an overview of the foundation's internal and external spending. Internal spending includes various EF teams like Geth, Privacy & Scaling Explorations (PSE), and Solidity, while external spending primarily covers grants, such as those issued by the Ecosystem Support Program. Stark noted that internal spending represents about 38% of the budget, with external spending accounting for 62%. L1 R&D remains a key focus of the financial spend. The largest-growing spending category is "New Institutions," which are organizations designed to support the Ethereum ecosystem over the long term. Vitalik highlighted that new institutions include organizations like L2Beat and the Decentralization Research Center. The Ethereum Foundation expects to publish a full spending report before Devcon SEA.
Node Operator Risk Standard (NORS)
The Liquid Collective introduced the Node Operator Risk Standard (NORS), a formal certification focused on attesting to risk management for Ethereum staking infrastructure providers. The certification covers critical areas such as slashing prevention, validator diversity, and secure key management. NORS follows the AICPA audit standards and meets the requirements of traditional institutional certifications, simplifying the process of evaluation of staking infrastructure. NORS aims to offer a clear and measurable framework for Ethereum node operators. The Liquid Collective is an enterprise consortium aimed at driving staking adoption among institutions.
Balancer Expands To The Superchain
Balancer is expanding its DEX to the Superchain, starting with deployments on Mode and Fraxtal. The launch includes Balancer’s 80/20 liquidity pools and interest-bearing stableswap pools, which optimize liquidity, reduce impermanent loss, and enhance incentives. Aura Finance, a protocol built on Balancer, is also now live on Base. Balancer is now part of Optimism’s Superfest incentives campaign.