What is Dai?

DAI launched in 2017 as the original decentralized stablecoin. Anyone can mint DAI by locking collateral in a Maker vault (currently 150-170% over-collateralization for ETH). Maker has progressively added real-world assets — primarily tokenized US Treasuries — to back roughly half of DAI's supply, blurring the line between purely-decentralized and centralized stablecoins.

DAI chain footprint

Dai is currently deployed on 32 chains with the largest balance on Ethereum (77.7% of supply). Mechanism: Crypto-backed. Live circulating supply is $4.65B, with a 24h change of -0.16% and 30d change of 1.50%.

DAI risks and peg history

DAI's peg has held resiliently since 2020. Major risks today are RWA-issuer credit risk (~$1B+ in US Treasury exposure), governance-attack risk on the MKR/SKY token, and dependency on USDC/USDP collateral in PSM modules. The Sky rebrand introduces a new USDS token; DAI continues to operate alongside.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is DAI different from USDT and USDC?

DAI is issued by an open protocol (Sky/MakerDAO) rather than a centralized issuer. Anyone can mint DAI by depositing collateral; redemption is permissionless via auctions or PSM. USDT and USDC require KYC for direct mint/redeem and are issued by single corporate entities.

What backs DAI?

DAI backing has shifted over time. Today it is roughly 50% real-world assets (tokenized US Treasuries via Monetalis, BlockTower, Centrifuge), 30% crypto vault collateral (ETH, wstETH, WBTC), and 20% USDC/USDP via the Peg Stability Module.

Is DAI truly decentralized?

DAI is more decentralized than USDT or USDC but not fully so — material reserves sit in tokenized off-chain assets and centralized stablecoins. The PSM allows 1:1 redemption against USDC/USDP, which is convenient but creates censorship surface area.

What is the difference between DAI and USDS?

Sky (formerly MakerDAO) launched USDS in 2024 as a successor stablecoin with native staking yield. Holders can convert DAI to USDS 1:1. Both tokens coexist; new yield products (sUSDS) are built on USDS while DAI continues to be supported.