MakerDAO’s $1B Tokenized Treasury Investment Plan Draws Interest from BlackRock’s BUIDL, Ondo, Superstate

Crypto
lending
platform
MakerDAO,
the
protocol
behind
the
$5
billion
stablecoin
DAI,
is
planning
to
invest
$1
billion
of
its
reserves
in
tokenized
U.S.
Treasury
products.
Top
players
in
the
space
including

BlackRock’s
BUIDL,

Superstate
and

Ondo
Finance
are
lining
up
to
apply
for
the
proposal.

“We
think
this
is
a
very
good
move
from
MakerDAO
and
we
are
excited
to
participate
with
Blackrock’s
BUIDL,”
Carlos
Domingo,
CEO
of
tokenization
platform
Securitize,
BlackRock’s
issuance
partner,
said
in
an
email
to
CoinDesk.
“As
the
leading
tokenized
treasury
issuer,
we
will
certainly
apply.”

“Superstate’s
USTB
is
an
ideal
partner
for
MakerDAO,”
Robert
Leshner,
founder
of
Superstate,
told
CoinDesk.
“We’re
excited
that
MakerDAO
is
creating
an
open
process
where
we
can
introduce
USTB
to
the
community.”

Ondo
Finance

(ONDO),
the
$550
million
RWA
platform,
also
plans
to
participate.
“It’s
a
natural
fit
in
our
mission
of
bringing
institutional-grade
financial
products
and
services
to
everyone,”
Nathan
Allman,
founder
of
Ondo
Finance,
said
in
a
Telegram
message.
“We
look
forward
to
participating.”

Maker’s
governance
token

(MKR)
jumped
5%
on
the
news
about
those
issuers’
interest
in
the
proposal.

MakerDAO’s
plan
means
a
significant
reshuffle
of
its
reserve
strategy
as
the
protocol,
one
of
the
first
players
in
decentralized
finance
(DeFi),
ushers
into
a
next
era
under
founder
Rune
Christensen’s
Endgame
Plan.
The
protocol
has
spearheaded
crypto’s
real-world
asset
(RWA)
trend,
backing
its
decentralized
stablecoin
in
part
by
U.S.
government
bonds
and
bills
held
off-chain
with
a
range
of
partners.

Read
more:



Rune
Christensen
Explains
Why
He
Wants
to
Remake
Maker
and
Kill
DAI

The
open
competition
called
“Spark
Tokenization
Grand
Prix”
to
allocate
$1
billion
to
tokenized
offerings
was
announced
on
Thursday
at
ETHCC
in
Brussels,
Belgium
and
also
outlined
in
a
Spark
SubDAO

governance
post.

Spark
Protocol
is
a
lending
platform
build
on
top
of
Maker,
and
is
“poised
to
become
the
central
hub
for
RWAs
on
Maker
and
Ethereum,”
the
announcement
said.
It’s
led
by
the
Spark
SubDAO,
a
smaller
decentralized
autonomous
organization
within
MakerDAO.

Applications
will
open
on
August
12
with
more
details
about
the
competition
coming
in
the
next
weeks,
the

post
said.

The
investment
will
be
funded
from
redirecting
reserves
from
the
Clydesdale
facility
managed
by
Monetalis
and
the
Andromeda
facility
by
BlockTower,
Sebastien
Derivaux,
co-founder
of
Steakhouse
Financial,
a
DeFi
consulting
firm
that
was
also
the
author
of
the
tokenized
treasury
proposal.

Monetalis
will

offboard
from
MakerDAO
after

community
backlash
for
failing
to
present
adequate
reporting
about
the
reserves
in
a
timely
manner.

MakerDAO’s
investment
would
mean
a
huge
boost
for
the
tokenized
real-world
asset
protocols
due
to
its
sheer
size.

U.S.
Treasuries
have
been
at
the
forefront
of
tokenization
efforts
of
digital
asset
firms
and
traditional
financial
institutions
alike.
These
products
are
attractive
for
protocol
treasuries
as
a
low-risk
instrument
where
they
can
park
their
blockchain-based
cash
and
earn
a
stable
yield
without
leaving
the
blockchain
ecosystem.

The
market
for
these
products
tripled
in
a
year
to
$1.85
billion,
according
to
data
provider

rwa.xyz.

MakerDAO’s
allocation
would
mean
another
55%
growth.

This
is
not
the
first
similar
action,
though.

ArbitrumDAO,
an
ecosystem
development
organization
of
Ethereum
layer-2
Arbitrum,

finalized
a
similar
contest
called
STEP
on
Thursday
to
allocate
the
equivalent
of
35
million
of
Arbitrum’s
native
tokens

(ARB)
–
roughly
$27
million
worth
–
in
tokenized
offerings.

UPDATE
(July
12,
17:39
UTC):

Adds
details
about
the
investment
plan
and
SparkDAO’s
role.

UPDATE
(July
12,
18:08
UTC):

Adds
MKR
price
action
in
5th
paragraph.