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The dust is slowly settling on the election and everything old is new again, and just as divisive.

Consider this a reminder of why we are here: the creation of an alternative financial system that works for everyone equally, regardless of who you are. 

As long as you have the private keys, you’re always welcome. Now, have a peaceful weekend!

— David Canellis

🟢 Ready for it?

Framework’s Vance Spencer is a fan of Maker’s Sky rebrand.

I don’t know about you, but until I chatted with Spencer, I really hadn’t seen or heard anyone come out in favor of the rebrand. Most folks were either ambivalent or critical. 

For Spencer — after speaking with various stakeholders — the “brand equity is actually relative to the value of a redenomination, which is just a lower unit bias. There's a reason that stocks do this in the stock market,” he explained.

As for the naysayers, it’s simply “too early” to determine if the strategy’s even worked yet, given that no major exchange has listed SKY.

“The brand has been confusing so far, but there hasn't been enough adoption to tell you know, one from the other in terms of, do people not like the brand, or do people not like one big fund selling their MKR, and then a general market pullback, because, right now, MKR is ripping again, and I think people you know care less about the brand or about what their perspective is when that's the case,” Spencer said.

The tradeoff of having “something that’s more retail-oriented and lower unit bias,” is more important when it comes to the rebrand. And, to add to that, the lower retail participation so far makes it hard to get a read on success down the line. 

However, this rebrand could change the story, especially paired with the potential market rally we could see if there’s regulatory clarity (and firms aren’t at risk of sudden lawsuits). 

“If we assume Wall Street institutions and retail get in and they value certain things, like fundamentals, I think they're also going to value a brand that makes sense within the context of what the project's trying to do, which is kind of start over for this next chapter of crypto, redenominate. Fresh chart, completely transition the token to the next one, there's probably going to be a lot of lost tokens,” Spencer said. But it’ll end up being a “clean slate.”

Despite what some have labeled a “botched” rebrand, Framework won’t be going anywhere. 

“This is something that we have a venture perspective on, and we're going to hold for a long time. And I think what they're doing is in the spirit of growing the fundamentals, which is really what we care about, because at a certain point, if you're holding some of the last MKR, like, they're gonna be buying it from you, and that's kind of the market you want to create in the future,” Spencer added.

— Katherine Ross

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Okay, we’ve talked about a handful of angles around the election so far this week, but Empire’s Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Santos had an interesting point on this week’s Roundup episode: the crypto IPO could be back in play. 

It’s been a tough fundraising environment for crypto firms, which has pretty much taken IPOs off the table.

“Fundraising environment has sucked. You haven't really had new money come in or being allocated to crypto funds,” Santos said.

We know that firms like Circle are serious about going public on a US exchange, but we haven’t seen an S-1 since it filed confidentially with the SEC at the start of this year. However, if we get a changing of the guard at the SEC… you get the gist. 

Obviously, nothing’s going to happen immediately. And in regards to both fundraising and going public, as Yanowitz mentioned on the podcast, there’s going to be a lag. 

Yanowitz said he doesn’t expect a pick-up until about six months after the election. Watch the end of Q1. Though Santos thinks we could see firms allocate sooner. 

And now you know.

Whatever you think of the MakerDAO rebrand — it’s going to be a long process.

MKR and DAI holders have been able to convert their old-fashioned tokens into the newfangled editions, SKY and USDS for close to two months.

So far, about 11% of the MKR circulating supply has been converted to SKY — which can also be used for governance of Sky Protocol — equal to around $150 million at current prices. MKR still retains a market cap of nearly $1.17 billion.

The uptake for USDS has been quicker. To date, $1.2 billion in circulating DAI has been converted into USDS, per this Dune dashboard from user Seoul. 

About $3.2 billion in DAI circulates the crypto space, putting the USDS:DAI ratio at 3:8 right now.

Not bad considering the timeline. The real trick will be bringing straggling token holders over to the new regime — without losing them to other projects along the way.

— David Canellis and Katherine Ross

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Last week, we asked: “What’s stopping you from entering the metaverse?” Two-thirds of you said, “Stopping me? I’m already there.” Clearly, not all heroes wear capes.

This week, we want to know: “Should more coins consider rebranding?”