DeFi Giant MakerDAO Integrates Blockchain Data Provider Chainlink for DAI Stablecoin

MakerDAO, one of the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, successfully onboarded blockchain data provider Chainlink’s smart contract automation into its Keeper system that maintains the stability of Maker’s DAI stablecoin, Chainlink Labs said Thursday.

Chainlink Automation will run specific tasks, including price updates, liquidity balancing for the DAI Direct Deposit Module (D3M) and debt ceiling upgrades for assets held as collateral, according to the press release.

“This network of automated bots perform essential tasks to maintain the Maker protocol and will be greatly expanded through the integration with Chainlink’s renowned, hyper-reliable automation platform,” Nadia Álvarez, a member of MakerDAO’s Growth Core Unit, said in a statement.

Maker is an automated crypto lender with some $7 billion of assets pledged on the platform, which also issues the $5 billion DAI stablecoin. A decentralized autonomous organization governs the protocol by proposals and votings, and holders of the MKR$1,520.65 governance token can support or oppose decisions.

The community approved the move in an executive vote that concluded Thursday 03:23 UTC. The integration will be available for execution on Saturday, MakerDAO's voting page shows.

The decision comes as Chainlink has become a deeply embedded software platform, also known as oracle, in the Web3 ecosystem to feed blockchain networks with external data from the real world. It has built wide-ranging partnerships with crypto firms and traditional companies, including telecom giant Deutsche Telekom and interbank communication provider SWIFT.

“The advancement of the technology backing stablecoins is a necessary component to unlock the future of finance,” said Johann Eid, vice president of Go-To-Market at Chainlink Labs, the developer firm behind Chainlink. “As more and more traditional financial institutions partner with MakerDAO and assess the applicability of DeFi, the required underlying infrastructure becomes increasingly complex,” he said about the integration.

LINK, Chainlink’s native token, has been one of the top daily performers among digital assets in the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), gaining some 8% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. At press time, it was changing hands at $7.62.