Maker DAO 一个去中心化组织，被称为区块链上的去中心化「中央银行」，是一个建立在以太坊上的智能合约平台，DAI 是这项目推出的稳定币，价值稳定的去中心化加密数位货币专案。透过智能合约平台，用户可以抵押其他类型的代币或加密货币来换取价格相对稳定的代币DAI，目前只能抵押以太币。

Maker DAO 藉由利用智能合约，实现了币币兑换过程全去中心化，没有任何单一个人、团体、组织能够控制市场上流通的DAI的数量，其流通量取决于市场中的用户在Maker平台的兑换量，以稳定其价格。DAI 与TUSD、USDC、GUSD 等这种由第三方机构担保，声称有在银行质押相等的美元不同，DAI 的发行是靠智能合约运作，可以把它视为在以太坊上靠智能合约运作的债务担保合约（Collat​​eralized Debt Position, CDP），透过代币或加密货币抵押做为担保品发行的稳定币。

MakerDAO 项目是Rune Christensen 在2015 年发起。2016 年，团队推出了OasisDEX 去中心化交易所，2017 年时稳定币DAI 正式在以太坊上线，MakerDAO 团队其中有一部分技术开发者来自Bitshares，让Dai 项目打下了扎实的基础。Rune Christensen 是来自丹麦的创业者，Maker DAO 专案的创始人，在创立Maker 专案之前，他在北京管理一家人力资源服务机构超过四年时间，并且深度参与了BitShares 社区，Maker 和DAI 的设计灵感就是来自BitUSD 。在Maker，Rune Christensen 的主要工作是设计了DAI 债券系统的底层经济机制，并积极参与系统制度设定，以及两个Maker 的最主要的资产，稳定的去中心化债券（DAI）和去信任的股权代币（MKR）的市场推广工作。

MakerDAO 到目前为止会如此成功、受大众关注的主要原因是从早期的参与者到Maker 基金会的员工，再到MKR 持有者，是Maker 社区生态组成不可或缺的关键，可以说没有MakerDao 社区人士的付出就不会有DAI 和Maker 的成功。

抵押债券CDP

CDP 是「抵押债券」（Collat​​eralized Debt Position），又称「抵押债务证明」，CDP 使用者存入代币或加密货币来抵押，其抵押的价值必须大于拿到的DAI，以保证项目的债务风险。

Maker 的CDP 的运作模式类似你把房子抵押给银行，银行会贷款现金给你。举例来说，价值1000 万的房子向银行抵押，换取500 万的现金。如果房子的价格下降，银行就会要求你赎回。如果你无法赎回，银行将会拍卖你的房子。在Maker 运作中，房子就是以太币，现金就是DAI，银行的角色由智能合约取代。如果没办法赎回以太币，智能合约就会将以太币强制平仓。

稳定币DAI

DAI 的价格与美元挂钩，兑换比例为1：1，透过以太币抵押获得的DAI 可以作为价格稳定的交换媒介。当用户不需要DAI 时，将抵押时取得的等量DAI 赎回抵押物，或者将其出售。

在目前二级市场上，几乎所有代币或加密货币的价格波动幅度都较大，因而透过抵押获得的DAI 之价格自然也会受到抵押物价格的影响。为了解决这个问题，Maker 通过超额抵押（大于150%）的方式，用过量的抵押物来吸收抵押物本身价格波动带来的风险，以稳定抵押获得的DAI 的价格。当DAI 的价格出现波动时，Maker 平台中的看护机可以透过对DAI 的买卖获得利润并且稳定DAI 的价格。举例来说：用价值100 美元的ETH 抵押，兑换到价值60 美元的DAI，中间的价格拿去缓冲ETH 价格波动。

当抵押物的价格波动超越了一定幅度，系统中的大多数机制都无法稳定DAI 的价格时，全域清算系统便会启动，将DAI 回收并且向用户返还抵押物，在最大程度上保护用户的利益。

代币MKR

除了DAI 之外，Maker 平台还有另外一种代币MKR。MKR 是平台的治理代币，用于平台的管理与决策投票。

MKR 目前总量为100 万枚，61% 的数量在市场上流通，39% 分配给基金会，15% 分配给核心团队。MKR 的分配机制不明确，也并未进行ICO。

当平台需要对关于平台发展的方案进行决策时，持有MKR 代币的用户可以通过投票的方式表达自己的意见，相对的MKR 持有者的教育背景和平衡意见对DAI 的健康和成长很重要。平台发展的良好与否直接决定了MKR 的价格，这个激励机制通过MKR 的价格来促使MKR 持有人作出对平台发展有利的决策。除了治理功能之外，MKR 还用于支付用户在使用平台过程中手续费。用户在Maker 平台上对DAI 的使用与操作以交易的形式记录在以太坊区块链中，保证整个过程的透明与不可篡改。

MKR 的用途除了是治理外，另一个用途是支付稳定费，在用户赎回抵押的以太坊时，需要支付MKR 作为稳定费，这种情况下MKR 会被销毁。随着使用DAI 的人越来越多，稳定费也会越来越多，销毁的MKR 也就越来越多，MKR 也就越来越值钱。这样的机制可以把MKR 看作一个通缩体系，MKR 的持有者可以从DAI 的广泛使用中获取收益。

手续成本较高

在Maker 平台上，用户兑换一定数量DAI 的过程很繁琐，而且整个过程中都需要透过以太坊交易来完成（包括DAI 的转帐），用户需要付出较高的交易成本。在兑换DAI 的过程中，用户首先开启一个抵押债仓（CDP, Colleteral Deposit Position）；随后将抵押物转入抵押债仓；最后，用户根据抵押物的价值大小决定自己需要兑换的DAI 的数量，同时在CDP 中的相应数量抵押物被冻结。

上述的这个过程中每一步都需要透过以太坊中的交易完成，而目前以太坊的交易处理能力是十分不友好的。此外，以太坊的平均交易费用也逐步升高，用户如果需要兑换任意数量的DAI，仅仅是在以太坊平台上需要花费的交易成本就达到了10 美元。不仅如此，对于每笔的DAI 转帐而言，用户也需要透过以太坊的交易来进行。有时为了交易的即时性，用户需要付出更高的手续费。

Maker 利用加密货币抵押成功的创造了去中心化稳定币DAI，但仍存在部分缺点，像是生成DAI 的超额担保与手续费，对用户来说成本太高，严重影响使用DAI 的意愿。但就过往的纪录，在2017 年ETH 对美元价值跌了约80%，面对如此惨烈的状况DAI 还能够维持在1美元的区间，证明了其机制的可行性。Maker 也将推出多种类抵押担保，借此改善DAI 的波动问题，并增加存款利息功能，提升用户的兑换动力，改善流通量不足的状况。

MAKER DAO的运作方式

抵押ETH：

用户将持有的ETH 打入以太池中，获得PETH。将PETH 打入Maker 智能合约CDP（Collat​​eralizedDebt Positions，抵押债仓）中获得DAI。

取回ETH：

用户将DAI+系统的稳定费（MKR）打入Maker 智慧合约CDP 取回ETH。

整个系统中，最关键的是「如何保证DAI 的价格和美元保持在一个稳定的范围内」，当DAI 价格低于1 美元时，CDP 的债务比例将会降低，也就是说，抵押相同数量的ETH（假设ETH价格不变） 获得的DAI 将会变少，减少市场上DAI 的供应，同时增加稳定费，提高获得DAI 的成本，从而抑制DAI 价格的下降。

Maker DAO is a decentralized organization, known as the decentralized "central bank" on the blockchain. It is a smart contract platform built on Ethereum. DAI is the stable currency launched by this project. , a decentralized encrypted digital currency project with stable value. Through the smart contract platform, users can mortgage other types of tokens or cryptocurrencies in exchange for the relatively stable token DAI. Currently, only Ethereum can be mortgaged.

Maker DAO achieves full decentralization of the currency exchange process by using smart contracts. No single individual, group, or organization can control the amount of DAI circulating in the market. Its circulation depends on the market. The exchange volume of users on the Maker platform is to stabilize its price. DAI is different from TUSD, USDC, GUSD, etc., which are guaranteed by third-party institutions and claim to have equal pledges in banks. The issuance of DAI is operated by smart contracts. It can be regarded as a debt operated by smart contracts on Ethereum. Collateralized Debt Position (CDP), a stable currency issued through token or cryptocurrency mortgage as collateral.

The MakerDAO project was launched by Rune Christensen in 2015. In 2016, the team launched the OasisDEX decentralized exchange. In 2017, the stable currency DAI was officially launched on Ethereum. Some of the technical developers in the MakerDAO team came from Bitshares, which laid a solid foundation for the Dai project. Rune Christensen is an entrepreneur from Denmark and the founder of the Maker DAO project. Before founding the Maker project, he managed a human resources service organization in Beijing for more than four years and was deeply involved in the BitShares community. The design inspiration for Maker and DAI was From BitUSD. At Maker, Rune Christensen’s main job is to design the underlying economic mechanism of the DAI bond system, and actively participate in the system setting, as well as the two main assets of Maker, stable decentralized bonds (DAI) and trustless Marketing efforts for equity tokens (MKR).

The main reason why MakerDAO has been so successful and attracted public attention so far is that from early participants to Maker Foundation employees to MKR holders, they are indispensable to the ecological makeup of the Maker community The key is, it can be said that without the efforts of people in the MakerDao community, there would be no success of DAI and Maker.

Collateralized Debt Position

CDP is a "Collateralized Debt Position", also known as "Collateralized Debt Position", CDP usesInvestors deposit tokens or cryptocurrencies as collateral, and the value of their collateral must be greater than the DAI received to ensure the project's debt risk.

The operating model of Maker's CDP is similar to if you mortgage your house to a bank, the bank will lend you cash. For example, a house worth 10 million is mortgaged to the bank in exchange for 5 million in cash. If the price of the house drops, the bank will ask you to redeem it. If you are unable to redeem, the bank will auction your house. In the operation of Maker, the house is Ethereum, the cash is DAI, and the role of the bank is replaced by smart contracts. If there is no way to redeem the Ether, the smart contract will force the Ether position to be liquidated.

Stable currency DAI

The price of DAI is pegged to the US dollar, with an exchange ratio of 1:1. DAI obtained through Ethereum mortgage can be used as a stable price medium of exchange. When the user does not need DAI, the equivalent amount of DAI obtained when staking is redeemed or sold.

In the current secondary market, the prices of almost all tokens or cryptocurrencies fluctuate greatly, so the price of DAI obtained through mortgage will naturally be affected by the price of the collateral. In order to solve this problem, Maker uses excessive collateral to absorb the risks caused by price fluctuations of the collateral itself through over-collateralization (greater than 150%) to stabilize the price of DAI obtained through mortgage. When the price of DAI fluctuates, the guardian in the Maker platform can make profits and stabilize the price of DAI by buying and selling DAI. For example: use ETH worth $100 as collateral and exchange it for DAI worth $60. The middle price is used to buffer ETH price fluctuations.

When the price fluctuation of the collateral exceeds a certain range and most mechanisms in the system are unable to stabilize the price of DAI, the global clearing system will be activated to recover DAI and return the collateral to the user. Protect the interests of users to the greatest extent.

TokenMKR

In addition to DAI, the Maker platform has another token, MKR. MKR is the platform’s governance token and is used for platform management and decision-making voting.

The current total supply of MKR is 1 million, 61% of the total is circulating in the market, 39% is allocated to the foundation, and 15% is allocated to the core team. The distribution mechanism of MKR is unclear and no ICO has been conducted.

When the platform needs to make decisions about platform development plans, users holding MKR tokens can express their opinions through voting. The relative educational background and balanced opinions of MKR holders are important to The health and growth of DAI is important. Whether the platform develops well or not directly determines the price of MKR. This incentive mechanism uses the price of MKR to encourage MKR holders to make decisions that are beneficial to the development of the platform. In addition to the governance function, MKR is also used to pay users fees when using the platform.. The user's use and operation of DAI on the Maker platform are recorded in the Ethereum blockchain in the form of transactions, ensuring that the entire process is transparent and cannot be tampered with.

In addition to governance, the other purpose of MKR is to pay stability fees. When users redeem mortgaged Ethereum, they need to pay MKR as a stability fee. In this case, MKR will be destroyed. As more and more people use DAI, the stability fee will increase, more and more MKR will be destroyed, and MKR will become more and more valuable. Such a mechanism can treat MKR as a deflationary system, and MKR holders can obtain benefits from the widespread use of DAI.

Higher handling costs

On the Maker platform, the process for users to redeem a certain amount of DAI is very cumbersome, and the entire process needs to be completed through Ethereum transactions (including the transfer of DAI), and users need to pay a relatively high amount of DAI. High transaction costs. In the process of exchanging DAI, the user first opens a Collateral Deposit Position (CDP); then transfers the collateral to the Collateral Deposit Position; finally, the user determines the amount of DAI he needs to exchange based on the value of the collateral. At the same time, the corresponding amount of collateral in CDP is frozen.

Each step in the above process needs to be completed through transactions in Ethereum, and the current transaction processing capabilities of Ethereum are very unfriendly. In addition, the average transaction fee of Ethereum has gradually increased. If a user needs to exchange any amount of DAI, the transaction cost alone on the Ethereum platform will reach $10. Not only that, for each DAI transfer, users also need to conduct it through Ethereum transactions. Sometimes users need to pay higher fees for the immediacy of transactions.

Maker successfully created the decentralized stablecoin DAI using cryptocurrency mortgages, but there are still some shortcomings, such as the excess guarantee and handling fees for generating DAI, which are too costly for users and have serious consequences. Willingness to use DAI. However, based on past records, in 2017, the value of ETH against the US dollar fell by about 80%. Faced with such a tragic situation, DAI was able to maintain the range of US$1, which proved the feasibility of its mechanism. Maker will also launch various types of mortgage guarantees to improve the fluctuation problem of DAI, and add deposit interest functions to enhance users' exchange motivation and improve the situation of insufficient circulation.

How MAKER DAO operates

Mortgage ETH:

Users put their ETH into the Ether pool and obtain PETH. Put PETH into the Maker smart contract CDP (Collateralized Debt Positions) to obtain DAI.

Retrieve ETH:

The user transfers the stability fee (MKR) of the DAI+ system into Maker Smart contract CDP retrieves ETH.

In the entire system, the most critical thing is "how to ensure that the price of DAI and the US dollar remain within a stable range." When the price of DAI is lower than 1 US dollar, the debt ratio of CDP will will decrease, that is to say, the DAI obtained by staking the same amount of ETH (assuming that the price of ETH remains unchanged) will become less, reducing the supply of DAI in the market, while increasing the stability fee and increasing the cost of obtaining DAI, thereby suppressing the increase in DAI price. decline.