Maker (MKR) Surges 8% as Whales Pivot to SKY Staking – What’s Driving the Rally?

MakerDAO’s MKR token just ripped 8% higher—apparently fueled by whales dumping liquidity into SKY staking. The move smells like another classic crypto rotation play: chase yields until the music stops.

While the protocol’s loyalists cheer the pump, skeptics note this is the same crowd that’ll likely flip their bags the second APYs dip. Stay nimble out there—DeFi’s ‘yield tourism’ rarely ends with postcards.

SKY crypto staking frenzy juice MKR

Immediately after SKY staking went live, rewards hit a whopping 38% but stabilized to 17% at the time of writing.

Unsurprisingly, the SKY upgrade from MKR also accelerated, with over 40K MKR (about +$72 million) upgraded and staked on the 2nd of June.

However, only 43% of MKR’s 530K token supply was upgraded, meaning the remaining conversions may drive MKR’s and SKY prices upwards. 

The staking frenzy saw the Sky ecosystem’s TVL (total value locked) doubled from 2.89B SKY to 7.11B SKY. 

Source: Sky Money

Meanwhile, SKY token price mooned +50% from $0.07 to $0.1. But the token gave back most of the gains at press time. 

For MKR, the token pumped 8% on Monday and posted another 4% gain at the time of writing. So far, in June, MKR has rallied 18% and retested $1800. 

Source: MKR/USDT, TradingView 

That said, the RSI showed potential for more growth, suggesting that the trend may rally MKR to $2K psychological level. 

That said, MKR has recorded negative net exchange flows since late May. This suggested a strong accumulation trend over the period as more MKR tokens were moved from exchanges to self-custody. 

Source: Glassnode

Now with SKY staking, whales will continue to withdraw and upgrade MKR to SKY to hunt staking rewards. If the staking pump seen on Monday holds for the rest of the SKY conversion, MKR may surge further.