MakerDAO took the leap years ago into using off-chain collateral; this was long before DeFi began to think about whether or not they could issue a token backed by an off-chain asset in a totally public way. By 2026, Real World Assets had come to represent the primary means for MakerDAO to generate revenue, rather than being just one way to generate revenue among many. The numbers back it up. MakerDAO has over $1.5 billion in tokenized U.S. Treasuries and Corporate Credit alone. The total Protocol TVL is approximately $6 billion. Approximately 14% of Protocol Reserves are backed by RWAs. A large amount of Protocol funds (nearly 80% of Fees Revenue in some recent reporting months) are generated from RWAs.<a href="https://coinlaw.io/makerdao-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Protocol revenue is greater than $80 million per year. Diversification is no longer an appropriate term; it's now a business model.<h2>How MakerDAO Actually Holds Real-World Assets</h2>The majority of coverage does a poor job of discussing the mechanism because it's complicated. MakerDAO cannot hold a US Treasury bill directly. Also, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) run by token holders cannot access CUSIPs, has no brokerage account and does not have a legal personality. The solution is called SPV architecture — the SPV architecture consists of trustee-controlled special purpose vehicles established as legal entities in traditional jurisdictions. They are authorized to hold off-chain assets for the protocol. Each type of real-world asset (RWA) collateral has a unique structure of vaults. In addition, all debt ceilings are approved through governance votes. The SPV will purchase the underlying asset. The tokenized representation will then be used as collateral on-chain, resulting in DAI being minted in opposition to the tokenized asset. Any yield produced by the off-chain asset, such as interest from a loan or a coupon paid for a Treasury bond, will flow as stability fee revenue to the protocol via the SPV. In order to incorporate traditional credit underwriting in the DeFi Stack, BlockTower Credit and 6s Capital Partners manage purpose-built vaults for RWA-backed loans. This is working, and it incorporates custodial and counterparty risk that is not present with purely cryptocurrency-backed collateral.<h2>The Centrifuge Relationship</h2>MakerDAO's partnership with Centrifuge to pool invoices and trade receivables and produce DAI collateral was both unique and foundational to MakerDAO's current relationship with RWA partners (e.g., ONDO). Centrifuge was still utilizing the DAI liquidity supplied by MakerDAO to provide tokenised DeFi solutions before the establishment of ONDO, the creation of BlackRock BUIDL, and so on. This example illustrates the sophistication of the tokenised traditional credit marketplace growing alongside the recently tokenised credit marketplace. The partnership between MakerDAO and Centrifuge has a critical role because it provides a DeFi solution that connects traditional credit with an asset class overlooked by institutional credit products. Traditional credit products such as US Treasury bonds are simple, liquid and price consistently. Trade finance receivables and small-to-medium enterprises loans are bilateral, illiquid and require specific credit underwriting. Centrifuge generates and structures the trade finance and SME loans; MakerDAO supplies DAI liquidity into the pool of these loans. Despite disagreements over risk parameters, governance, the DeFi market contraction from 2022/2023, the relationship between MakerDAO and Centrifuge has remained true to their original vision, as evidenced by their continued operating presence.<h2>Sky Protocol and the Endgame Rebrand</h2>Late last year, MakerDAO rebranded as Sky Protocol, which included an upgrade of DAI to USDS (a new stablecoin) with additional features such as governance incentives and customizable yield distribution.<a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/313235/makerdao-mkr-sky-dai-stablecoin-usds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>The MKR token will now be upgradeable to SKY at a ratio of 1:24,000. The Endgame reorganization from a monolithic DAO to a network of Sky Stars (sub-DAOs) will assign specific product verticals to each Sky Star, with administration of the treasury and RWA oversight retained by the core protocol. While the brand change itself did not change the RWA strategy, it did shift who is in authority. The RWA collateral backing DAI and USDS continues to be governed directly by Sky Protocol; however, each Sky Star has the authority to create their own products, seek their own funding, and enter into new markets. The separation is key. The Endgame structure will allow the most systemically important decisions (those which directly support the stablecoin) to remain centralized within the core protocol, while the complexity of governance will be distributed throughout the Sky Stars.<h2>The Risks Nobody Wants to Lead With</h2>There are structural issues present in the MakerDAO model for real world assets. The reliance on USDC for collateral puts MakerDAO directly at the mercy of Circle's regulatory standing. This dependency is further highlighted by the European Economic Area exchanges that have denied access to the DAI token due to MiCA regulation in the EU. Regulatory outcomes can affect protocols like MakerDAO, which was created to be censorship resistant. When it comes to owning US Treasury bonds through a Special Purpose Vehicle, there are 3 types of risk associated: counterparty risk with the trustee, legal risk in the jurisdiction where the bonds are held, and concentration risk by one vault potentially holding a large number of US Treasury Bonds. The first 'stress test' occurred when the<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/07/20/makerdao-votes-to-halt-lending-to-tokenized-credit-pool-after-2m-loan-default" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>2023 defaulting of Harbor Trade happened to MakerDAO and this stress test exists when a borrower defaults and MakerDAO eventually manages the situation. The stress test shows that the governance structure of MakerDAO should move faster than the delinquency of credit and that real-world asset risks are real. The framework is much better now, and the underlying credit risk remains. MakerDAO has set up the template that all DeFi protocols that now use off-chain collateral use. This is a significant achievement. It is equally significant to maintain a TVL of $6 billion.

MakerDAO (now Sky Protocol) uses RWAs as primary DeFi collateral, managing $6B TVL via SPVs, Centrifuge partnerships, and Sky Stars sub-DAOs for tokenized US Treasuries and credit.

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