USDS (USDS)

USDS arrived in 2024 when MakerDAO — DeFi's oldest major lending protocol — rebranded to Sky. Think of USDS as “DAI 2.0”: fully convertible to and from the original decentralised stablecoin, with a savings-rate wrapper and the long-trusted collateral machinery behind it.

For ranking purposes: this page's price data tracks USDS; DAI (the original) continues to exist separately and is also listed on this site.

USDS is an over-collateralised, crypto-backed stablecoin soft-pegged to the US dollar. It is minted through the Sky Protocol (formerly MakerDAO) by borrowers locking approved collateral — ETH, staked ETH, USDC and tokenised real-world assets — against the stablecoin they draw.

Unlike bank-backed stablecoins (USDC/USDT), no single company holds reserve dollars; solvency is enforced by smart-contract liquidations and the protocol's surplus buffer.

DAI holders can upgrade to USDS at a fixed 1:1 rate (and back to DAI). Borrowers mint USDS against collateral vaults; if collateral value falls too far, the position is automatically liquidated to repay the debt, keeping the system solvent.

USDS can be deposited into the Sky Savings Rate (sUSDS), earning a governance-set yield funded by the protocol's revenues. Stability fees and savings rates are tuned by decentralised governance to balance peg stability with demand.

The lineage starts in 2017 with MakerDAO's single-collateral DAI, expanding to Multi-Collateral DAI in 2019 and becoming DeFi's cornerstone lending protocol. In 2024 MakerDAO rebranded to Sky under founder Rune Christensen's roadmap, launching USDS and the SKY governance token.

The launch was not without friction: an initially-discussed 'freeze function' on USDS was modified after community criticism about decentralisation principles.

USDS has no fixed cap: supply rises and falls with borrowing demand, exactly like DAI. The 1:1 DAI↔USDS upgrade path means figures across the two tokens are best understood together.

Governance and value accrual centre on the SKY token (the MKR successor), not on USDS itself. Live supply and market cap are shown above.

Direct AUD listings of USDS on Australian exchanges are more limited than USDT/USDC — check your exchange's listings, or obtain it on-chain by swapping DAI or other assets.

The ATO treats USDS like other crypto: CGT on disposal, and savings-rate rewards generally as ordinary income when received.

USDS inherits DAI's structural risks: collateral crashes, liquidation-cascade stress, smart-contract exploits, and governance error — plus transition risk as the ecosystem migrates from MakerDAO-era branding and contracts.

The freeze-function debate also signals that USDS carries more governance-controllable features than purists might prefer. As ever: not a bank deposit, no deposit insurance, do not treat as cash.