Sky Protocol, formerly MakerDAO, closed 2025 with significant revenue growth, reaching $338M. The lending platform adapted to the shifting market by lowering its expenses by 63%.
Sky Protocol achieved $338M in total revenues for 2025, showing its model was robust even under non-ideal trading conditions. Sky Protocol retained its momentum in early 2026, as it remained in the green despite the market drawdown.
Following the latest positive results, $SKY traded near its higher range for the past three months at $0.065. Trading volumes recovered to a three-month high of $19M in 24 hours.
During market turbulence, Sky Protocol remained a reliable source of loans and liquidity. In 2025, the protocol increased its USDS stablecoin supply by 74%, showing trust in the lending mechanism.
The biggest driver of stability was the buybacks. Sky Protocol did not take up haphazard buybacks to stave off market decline. Instead, support for the $SKY token directly reflects the fees generated by the protocol.
Sky Protocol: leaner and a better fee producer
Sky Protocol showed a successful pivot from the Maker DAO stablecoin mechanism. The chief tool of the protocol was the adaptable savings rate, which is currently recovered to 4%, from lows of 2.75%. During previous cycles, Sky Protocol offered up to 12.5% return on USDS.
The protocol still carries the legacy DAI token, which is also active in DeFi.
During the 2025 market cycle, Sky Protocol operated with a lower value locked, lagging behind Aave. Sky Protocol drew in $5.34B, decreasing from $9.18B in early 2025. Spark Lend carries $2.43B in liquidity, ranking within the top 5 on-chain lenders.
Despite the lower liquidity, Sky Protocol grew its fee production to a higher baseline, drawing in around $1.13M in 24 hours.
USDS also supplies near-record liquidity, with a supply of over 9.57B tokens. The ecosystem continued to grow slowly in the first months of 2026, despite the downturn in ETH and BTC.
USDS expands its DEX activity
In addition to being used for lending, USDS is spreading across the DeFi ecosystem. In the past four months, USDS volumes on decentralized markets grew to new peaks.
The token is most actively trading on the new Manifest DEX, as well as Curve, its traditional legacy market. Recently, SUI announced it will add suiUSDSe, a native version of the Sky Protocol token.
USDS activity increased on DEX in the past three months, boosted by a growing supply and new partnerships. | Source: Dune Analytics
Over the course of 2025, Token Terminal data shows USDS activity on Sky Protocol expanded by 400%, based on more active transfers. Those transfers also translated into higher fees. Sky Protocol shows the rising demand for alternative sources of liquidity and reliable lending vaults to tap the value of crypto collaterals. Lenders also put their USDS to work, making it one of the key stablecoins to distribute passive income.
