Rune Christensen: Revamping the Maker/Sky

This year was pivotal for Rune Christensen's bold plan to revamp one of the largest and oldest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol MakerDAO. The platform was rebranded to Sky – although not without bumps and pushback in the process – and he unveiled a new stablecoin and governance token.

The protocol announced a "tokenization grand prix" to pour $1 billion worth of stablecoin reserves into tokenized real-world assets (RWA), attracting interest from dozens of issuers including BlackRock's tokenized money market BUIDL. Sky's brand-new USDS stablecoin also expanded beyond the protocol's long-time home Ethereum to the buzzing Solana, the blockchain network Christensen previously expressed admiration for, even floating the idea of creating a custom-made chain for Maker/Sky using Solana's underlying tech.

The jury is still out whether the protocol's mult-year recalibration will prove to be successful; fresh tailwinds might move the needle in Christensen's favor. Donald Trump's election victory drummed hopes up of a regulatory seachange in the U.S. towards digital assets and DeFi in particular. Sky, the issuer behind the largest decentralized stablecoin worth more than $5 billion on the market, could benefit greatly.

This profile is part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 package. For all of this year's nominees, click here.