Author: Rune Christensen, founder of Sky (formerly Maker)

Compiled by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily

Sky was officially released 8 days ago and it feels like we’ve entered a new era.

On September 18, Sky launched USDS, SKY tokens, and activated features such as “USDS Savings Rate” and “USDS Token Rewards”, giving people their first taste of the Sky ecosystem. Many different front-end operators offer related services, including sky.money, summer.fi, and defisaver.com.

In this 8-day period, the new coin has seen significant adoption. The supply of USDS has exceeded 570 million, with net inflows reaching $200 million.

USDS and SKY have been widely integrated into major frontends, wallets, and applications in the Ethereum ecosystem, and the upgrade has received widespread support from the community and the media.

However, this is just the beginning, we will continue to release new features and major integrations in the coming months. The decentralized Sky ecosystem has been brewing projects for the past 2 years, and everything that is ready will be released in quick succession.

Here are some of the new developments that have been approved or proposed by Sky governance, listed in the order in which they are expected to be launched.

Sky joins hands with Aave

Sky and Aave, the two DeFi giants, will join forces to promote the resurgence of DeFi - the two protocols will be integrated and the USDS market will be deployed on Aave, which will superimpose all possible reward mechanisms of the two protocols.

By integrating USDS and the “USDS Savings Rate” feature, Aave’s USDS market will permanently overlay the USDS Savings Rate with the regular Aave market rate. In addition, both protocols will provide unique launch rewards to the pool, SPK will be airdropped to users who deposit USDS on Aave (the only place outside of Spark Lend where SPK airdrops can be earned), and Aave will also provide additional incentives.

Simply put, for users who want to obtain higher stablecoin returns through DeFi, the USDS market on Aave will be a simple and safe option, and the two DeFi giants will jointly maintain the market.

After the Aave USDS market launches, Sky will begin distributing USDS collateral to the Aave Lido market through collateral distribution channels (with the help of Spark Star), thereby increasing liquidity and reducing borrowing costs for borrowers in the Aave Lido market.

Enter Solana

The next move is the much-anticipated Solana expansion plan, which is also welcomed by the Solana community as the Solana DeFi ecosystem currently lacks a decentralized stablecoin with built-in rewards.

USDS and SKY will be bridged using Wormhole, and through targeted use of SKY incentives to attract liquidity providers, Solana users will be able to access close to 1:1 USDS/USDC liquidity. Up to 2 million SKY tokens will be targeted weekly for DeFi rewards programs on Solana.

This will enable DeFi protocols on Solana to perform the same functions as the Aave USDS market and make USDS the best asset for earning DeFi rewards on Solana.

This will provide early preparation for the launch of Solana SkyLink, when all native Sky functionality will be available on Solana.

SKY Early Bird Airdrop

Users who registered on Sky.money before Sky’s official launch can currently receive double SKY rewards in USDS through the Early Bird program. These additional double rewards will be distributed via airdrops.

If you signed up for the Early Bird Program and meet the requirements, you can still earn double the rewards until October 16th.

SKY "Seal" Module

The SKY “Seal” module is the first major core feature to be launched after Sky is launched. This module allows eligible SKY and MKR holders to “seal” their tokens, and then these assets will be locked with a 5% “exit fee”. In return, they can receive:

• USDS rewards;

• Generate USDS using SKY and MKR as collateral;

• There will also be the option to receive other rewards, such as SPK, later on;

The Seal module may not be available in all countries.

High rewards coupled with the additional restrictions on "exit fees" will incentivize users to participate in Sky ecosystem governance for a longer period of time. The "exit fee" for the "seal" module is initially set at 5%, and will increase by 1% every 6 months. The increase in "exit fees" applies to all users, including those who have already chosen "seal". Five years after the module is launched, the "exit fee" will be permanently stabilized at 15% and will no longer be modified. The initial lower "exit fee" is to facilitate those early users who want to change their minds without incurring too heavy a penalty, reducing the early risks of the module.

Once Spark launches, “Seal” module users will also be able to opt-in to receive SPK (users must choose to receive USDS or SPK).

The rewards available to users of the “Seal” module are distributed as follows: 25% of the total net income of the Sky Protocol and 15% of the total SPK emissions.

SkyLink on Layer2

SkyLink will be launched on multiple Layer2s, making Sky a native multi-chain protocol. SkyLink is a custom bridge protocol that natively deploys most of Sky’s features to the target chain that needs to be connected. These features include:

• Native USDS, SKY, sUSDS tokens;

• Access native 1:1 liquidity between USDS and USDC;

• Native functionality to access USDS savings rate and convert between USDS > sUSDS;

• Native USDS token rewards, including SKY, Chronicle Points, and SPK;

• Native "activation" rewards (explained below).

The culmination of Sky Launch was the full launch of the Spark protocol, which was also the first independent Sky Star (sub-DAO).

From launch, Spark will be launched simultaneously on Ethereum and Layer2 via SkyLink, and SPK token rewards on USDS will also be launched simultaneously.

Once Spark is launched, Spark will begin generating its own revenue from the difference between the base rate (the rate Spark pays to generate USDS) and the yield Spark earns from allocating collateral.

The Allocation System will also be launched at that time, which will provide the Spark ecosystem with better flexibility in allocating collateral on new opportunities such as Ethereum and Layer2.

These features will transfer a significant amount of net surplus revenue currently earned entirely by the Sky Protocol to Spark and set the stage for Spark to tap into all the dynamic opportunities of the DeFi resurgence, flexibly further increasing its ability to create value.

Net revenue earned by Spark Protocol will be used to accumulate SPK/SKY liquidity, similar to the smart burn engine that accumulates SKY/USDS liquidity for Sky.

"Activate" function for SKY and SPK

With the full launch of Spark, both SKY and SPK tokens will receive an “activate” feature that will allow them to be used on multiple chains from the day of launch.

SKY Activation allows SKY holders to earn SPK rewards without “exit fees” or other forms of lock-up restrictions. SKY Activation users are allocated 15% of all SPK emissions.

In turn, SPK “activation” allows SPK holders to earn SKY rewards. SPK “activation” users will receive an allocation of 80 million SKY tokens per year.

SkyLink for Solana and other ecosystems

After Spark launches, the full SkyLink multi-chain system will be extended to Solana and other major Ethereum Layer2s. This will also include the linkage of the "distribution system" with major DeFi lending pools and protocols on various chains, significantly improving the liquidity of DeFi, enabling Spark to generate more surplus income, and enabling Sky to charge a higher base interest rate, providing USDS holders with better savings interest rates.

2025 and beyond

The above developments are the main ones Sky has announced so far, but we’re certainly not stopping there.

The key to Sky’s continued expansion is the ecosystem parallelization strategy inherent in its Star Model, so Sky will continue to launch more innovative features, and Spark will also begin to develop its own long-term roadmap, including new features, new applications and new adoption strategies.

Eventually, the next Star (child DAO) after Spark will be launched, which will similarly build its own innovative solutions and adoption roadmap, creating another parallelization path to new growth.

Afterwards, Sky will continue to incubate and launch more Stars, while also building core technologies to improve the efficiency, speed, and security of each Star through AI governance and data tools, and expand to more new blockchains through continuous optimization of SkyLink.