Dai
Learn about Dai, a Decentralized Cryptodollar on Ethereum
The Dai stablecoin is a decentralized, unbiased, collateral-backed cryptocurrency whose value is soft-pegged to the US Dollar.
Dai is held in digital wallets and supported on Ethereum and other popular blockchains. All circulating Dai are generated from Maker Vaults and are backed by a surplus of collateral assets.
Users generate Dai by depositing collateral assets into Maker Vaults within the Maker Protocol. Depositing collateral into Maker Vaults enables Dai to be minted and entered into circulation.
Every Dai in circulation is directly backed by excess collateral, meaning that the value of the collateral is higher than the value of the Dai debt, and all Dai transactions are publicly viewable on the Ethereum blockchain.
Why Dai?
A decentralized digital economy needs stable money in order to function. Dai is a price-stable asset that can be used as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account.
Dai enables a wide range of financial activities and applications that have previously been untenable due to the volatility of legacy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
People can obtain Dai by buying it from brokers or exchanges, or simply by receiving it as a means of payment.
Once generated, bought, or received, Dai can be used in the same manner as any other cryptocurrency: it can be sent to others, used as payments for goods and services, and even held as savings through a feature of the Maker Protocol called the Dai Savings Rate (DSR).
Applications
In addition to the Dai Savings Rate, which enables Dai users to earn accruals on the Dai they save, here is a non-exhaustive list of things Dai can be used for:
Hedging
During periods of high market volatility, Dai offers a safe harbor to store value without having to exit the crypto ecosystem.
Speculation
It can be difficult to track earnings when both sides of a trading pair are rising and falling in value. Creating markets that pair with DAI creates lower risk markets.
Financial Products
Dai can be used as collateral for various types of financial instruments, and can also be accepted for repayment of debt.
Commerce
Dai transactions are borderless and settle in minutes, making them a great solution for merchant receipts, cross-border transactions, and remittances.
Prediction Markets
Long-term betting becomes infeasible if users also have to bet on the future price of the asset. A cryptocurrency with price stability like Dai can be a natural choice.
Payments
Use of cryptocurrency in regular day-to-day economic activity can only scale with a stable asset as a medium of exchange. Dai fills this role perfectly.