What Is Maker (MKR)?

Maker is an Ethereum-based governance and utility token of the Maker system. Maker aims to unlock the potential of decentralized finance by building an inclusive platform for economic empowerment that gives everyone equal access to the global financial marketplace.

Notably, the Maker Platform consists of the following components:

• MakerDAO:MakerDAO is an open-source community project on the Ethereum blockchain and a decentralized autonomous organization. The project is administered by people all over the world who own MKR, the project's governance token. MKR holders regulate the Maker Protocol and Dai's financial risks using a scientific governance mechanism that includes executive voting and governance polling (called DSChief). The MKR voting weight is proportional to the number of MKR tokens staked by a voter in the voting contract. In simple words, the more MKR tokens are locked into the contract, the more decision-making power the voter has. MakerDAO as a group is devoted to improving the Bitcoin economy's stability.

• Maker Protocol: The Maker Protocol, developed on the Ethereum blockchain, allows users to build their own currency, the Dai stablecoin. MakerDAO regulates the Maker Protocol by deciding on critical parameters (e.g., stability fees, collateral types/rates, etc.) using MKR holders' voting power. The Maker Protocol, one of the largest decentralized applications (DApps) on the Ethereum blockchain, was the first to gain widespread popularity as a decentralized finance (DeFi) application. Additionally, Maker collateral vaults, oracles, and voting are other important components of the Marker Protocol. The Maker Protocol makes use of a two-token system, Dai and MKR.

  • Dai: The Dai stablecoin is a decentralized and collateral-backed pegged cryptocurrency. A pegged cryptocurrency is one whose exchange rate in relation to a traditional currency has been pre-determined by a national government. The Maker community thinks that a decentralized stablecoin is essential for any business or individual to achieve the benefits of digital currency. 

  • MKR:MKR is a governance token used by stakeholders to keep the system running and Dai in check. MKR token holders make decisions for the Maker Protocol, which is supported by the greater public community and a variety of other external stakeholders.

Additionally, the MKR token is an ERC20 token that serves the following purposes:

• Governance: The governance mechanism of the protocol is designed to be flexible. The MKR token allows the holders to make changes via a vote to the Maker protocol. The voters can decide whether to add any new type of asset as collateral. They can modify the risk parameters of the current collaterals. Furthermore, the voters can trigger an emergency shutdown. Moreover, the holders can upgrade the system by submitting new proposals.

• Recapitalization: The token works as a recapitalization (restructuring a company's debt-to-equity ratio) resource for the Maker platform to balance the demand and supply of Dai tokens generated in the auction process.

• Cryptocurrency: The MKR token is the cryptocurrency of the platform.

• Maker vaults: Maker vaults are smart contracts that can be used to leverage collateral assets to generate Dai tokens. Smart contracts are just like regular contracts; however, instead of being drafted on paper, these contracts run in the form of protocols on blockchain.

History of Maker (MKR)

The Maker Protocol was created in 2015 by a developer group headed by Rune Christensen. The group was formalized later into the Maker Foundation, a company located in the Cayman Islands. Christensen formerly worked at Try China, an international hiring firm. He earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Copenhagen and a master's degree in international business from the Copenhagen Business School.The first whitepaper of MakerDAO was published in December 2017.

Moerever, two organizations backing Maker are the Maker Foundation and the Dai Foundation. The Maker Foundation is part of the worldwide Maker community and developed and launched the Maker Protocol in combination with a few outside partners. The Dai Foundation, though, is based in Denmark and is self-governing and independent of the Maker Foundation. The Dai Foundation's purpose is to safeguard intangible assets of Maker's protocol, such as trademarks and code copyrights.

How Are New Maker Tokens (MKR) Created?

The MKR token is not minable but gets generated by the market's demand and supply for Dai tokens. Every time there is a collateral auction of the Maker vault, the value of the vault can generate more Dai tokens required by the system or fewer Dai tokens to sufficiently increase the liquidity. If the amount of Dai tokens generated is not enough, the protocol mints new MKR tokens. The newly minted MKR tokens are sold to cover the remaining sum for liquidation, which increases the total supply. However, if the amount of Dai generated through auction is more than the required limit, the Maker protocol burns MKR tokens from the system and decreases the total supply. Cryptocurrency burning is when a fraction of tokens are sent to a wallet with no private key. This means the tokens are lost forever. Tokens are usually burned to reduce availability and increase market value.

How Many Maker Tokens (MKR) Are There?

The supply of MKR tokens is not fixed and keeps changing based on the market condition of Dai tokens.

How to Buy Maker Tokens (MKR)

MKR tokens can be traded on Coinbase.