Dai(DAI)

Dai (DAI) is a crypto-collateralized stablecoin that claims to be the world’s first unbiased, decentralized and stable currency that can be used by any business/individual. It is soft-pegged to the US Dollar at a 1:1 ratio and is issued by MakerDAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) through its Ethereum-based application called Maker Protocol.

The DAI coin was launched in 2019 by MakerDAO, and is modeled on Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard. Since it’s pegged to the USD, DAI remains shielded by the general volatility of the crypto market. Unlike other well-known stablecoins like USDT, USDC and BUSD which are fairly centralized and backed by traditional assets like cash, corporate bonds, US treasuries and commercial papers, DAI is a truly decentralized stablecoin, entirely backed by crypto assets. 

The fact that it’s managed by a DAO through its governance token (MKR), brings a lot of uniqueness to DAI. The continuous development of DAI is overseen collectively by MakerDAO and Maker Protocol, both of which are democratically governed by participants of the Maker ecosystem through their MKR coin holdings. The stablecoin has grown by leaps and bounds since launch to feature among the top stablecoins by market cap.

DAI price

As DAI coin is pegged to the USD, DAI price has mostly stayed in the vicinity of $1 since its launch. That said, it has occasionally drifted away from that level owing to changes in demand and supply. When DAI coin’s demand is high and supply is low, DAI price has a tendency to hover above the $1 mark, and vice versa. As DAI is issued on-demand, it doesn’t have a fixed maximum supply. Hence, DAI’s fully diluted valuation also keeps changing from time to time.

According to our DAI live price chart, DAI price reached an all-time low of $0.90 on Nov 25, 2019. Since DAI price has an inverse relationship with the broader crypto market, it peaked at an all-time high of $1.22 on March 13, 2020, when the market was reeling under bearish pressure and people were moving their investments to more stable assets. It has since stabilized and has been range-bound within $0.99 and $1.01.  

How DAI works

DAI coins are minted by depositing Ethereum-based crypto assets as collateral into the Maker Vaults (Ethereum-based smart contracts), managed by the Maker Protocol application. The collateralization ratio varies depending upon the deposited asset. For example, it’s 175% for MANA tokens (of Decentraland), while only 101% for GUSD (Gemini Dollar). Although this is the main way of acquiring the DAI coins and bringing them into circulation, a large number of people simply buy DAI from crypto brokerage and exchange platforms or receive them as payment from others. 

DAI issuance through Maker Protocol works quite like a loan. The minted DAI coins are burnt and removed from the circulating supply whenever anyone repays their loan. Only a tiny percentage of DAI which is collected as interest makes its way back into the market.

Once you have DAI coins in your possession, you can use them like any other cryptocurrency, or more specifically any ‘stablecoin’: as a storage medium to hedge against the crypto market’s volatility, to pay for goods and services, to earn interest and/or use as a standardized measurement of value. 

Being an ERC-20 token, DAI coin inherits all the security features of the Ethereum blockchain. According to MakerDAO’s official website, more than 400 apps and services, including DeFi platforms, games, wallets and more, have already integrated DAI into their offerings.

DAI news, updates and highlights

In Dec 2021, Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, announced via a blog post that it had opened DeFi (Decentralized Finance) services for customers interested in earning high yields from their DAI coin deposits. Coinbase collaborated with Compound protocol in this regard, and facilitated easy DeFi lending with DAI, allowing DAI coin holders to earn handsome yields without any fees, set-up hassles or lockup restrictions.

In another noteworthy DAI news, in April 2022, MakerDAO successfully deployed on a Layer-2 zero-knowledge Ethereum scaling blockchain called StarkNet. The integration is intended to help improve DAI stablecoin’s multi-chain capabilities by increasing its transactional throughput and reducing transaction costs.

Frequently asked questions about DAI

• Can you mine DAI coins?

It’s not possible to mine DAI coins. You can borrow them in exchange for crypto deposits (on MakerDAO portal) or buy them in the market. 

• What are some of the best DAI wallets?

DAI can be stored in any ERC-20 compatible crypto wallet, including Ledger, Trezor, Trust Wallet and Atomic Wallet.

• What can I do with DAI coins?

You can use your DAI coins as a store of value or means of payment. They can be lent as well, through popular DeFi services, to earn interest.

• How can you buy DAI?

You can buy DAI coins from established crypto exchanges, either with fiat currency, or with crypto, using trading pairs like DAI/BTC, DAI/USDT, DAI/ETH or DAI/USDC.