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CoinRadar DailyCRYPTO MARKET SURVEILLANCE
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ADA$0.263122▲ 8.0%·
USDS$0.999835▼ 0.0%·
LEO$8.98▼ 0.2%·
BTC$86,683.00▲ 2.3%·
ETH$2,724.21▲ 1.2%·
USDT$0.999851▼ 0.0%·
BNB$798.09▲ 1.9%·
XRP$1.52▲ 2.2%·
USDC$0.999935▼ 0.0%·
SOL$121.03▲ 0.9%·
TRX$0.336155▲ 0.1%·
FIGR_HELOC$1.07▲ 0.1%·
ZEC$1,340.45▲ 2.5%·
HYPE$90.08▲ 0.7%·
DOGE$0.096076▲ 3.6%·
LINK$14.17▲ 0.5%·
XMR$546.36▼ 0.4%·
WBT$86.15▲ 2.2%·
ADA$0.263122▲ 8.0%·
USDS$0.999835▼ 0.0%·
LEO$8.98▼ 0.2%·
7.6/10
Stablecoins

DAI / Sky USDS

Solidranked 3 of 4 in stablecoins◆ Sources checked · 27 Sept 2026

Backed by over-collateralised on-chain positions you can verify yourself rather than an attestation you have to trust; since 2024 DAI converts 1:1 to its successor, USDS. The catch is that a large share of that collateral is now USDC and tokenised off-chain credit — the very counterparties DAI was created to avoid — and March 2023 showed what that means for the peg.

Best for: On-chain collateral with transparent, verifiable backing

Company file: Sky, owners, incidents →

How this score was reached

7.6 is the weighted average of the five pillar findings below. Dependable, with trade-offs a reader should know about first.

Custody & Security35%
7.8

Over-collateralised on-chain with verifiable backing and no custodian holding user funds. A large share of collateral is USDC in the peg stability module and real-world credit run by the Stars, such as Grove’s $1bn in tokenised CLOs, which reintroduces exactly the counterparty risk the design was meant to remove.

Cost & Fee Transparency10%
8.0

Transparent on-chain stability fees with no redemption gatekeeping — anyone can interact with the protocol directly.

Regulation & Legal Standing20%
6.6

Unlicensed with on-chain governance; the real-world asset exposure introduces off-chain counterparties that governance cannot fully verify.

Performance & Reliability30%
7.8

Fell to about $0.89 on 11 Mar 2023 alongside USDC, because more than half of its backing was USDC in the peg module, and recovered by 13 Mar. That dependence moves with USDC demand and has not gone away.

Access & Support5%
8.4

Deeply integrated across DeFi with strong secondary liquidity; about $4.8bn DAI and $6.7bn USDS outstanding in Sep 2026.

Strengths

  • Backing is verifiable on-chain rather than attested by a third party
  • No custodian and no permission required to mint or swap
  • DAI and USDS convert 1:1 in either direction

Against it

  • Heavy dependence on USDC collateral — it followed USDC to about $0.89 in March 2023
  • Real-world asset exposure adds counterparties governance cannot verify
  • Governance concentration is a real control risk

Verifiable backing, with an asterisk

DAI, and its 1:1 successor USDS, is the only stablecoin here whose backing you can check yourself on-chain rather than through an attestation you have to trust, and minting or swapping needs nobody’s approval.

The asterisk is real: a large share of collateral is USDC in the peg module plus off-chain credit run by Sky’s Stars. March 2023 showed what that means — when USDC fell to $0.87, DAI followed it to about $0.89. The dependence undercuts the premise while improving the yield.

Frequently asked questions

Is DAI actually decentralised?+

Less than it was. A large share of collateral is USDC and real-world assets, so DAI carries indirect exposure to exactly the counterparties its design was meant to avoid. The backing is still verifiable on-chain, which the alternatives are not.

How does DAI keep its peg?+

Over-collateralised positions plus the peg stability module, which swaps USDC and DAI or USDS one-for-one, so arbitrage pulls the market price back to parity. The same module is why DAI followed USDC down to about $0.89 on 11 Mar 2023 before recovering by 13 Mar.

DAI or USDC?+

USDC scores higher overall, on cleaner reserve composition and regulated issuance. DAI’s advantage is that its backing is directly verifiable and minting needs nobody’s permission — which matters more if censorship resistance is the point.

Assessed by

Olivia Bennett

By Olivia Bennett

Blockchain Security Researcher · September 27, 2026

◆ Disclosure

CoinRadar Daily is a non-commercial project. We have no commercial relationship with DAI / Sky USDS, earn nothing from any link on this page, and carry no advertising or sponsorship anywhere on the site. Findings rest on public sources; we did not open an account or transact.

Rubric v2.0How we score →

The rest of the stablecoins table

  1. 01USDCThe strongest disclosure and reserve composition available8.5
  2. 02PYUSDA federally supervised issuer with a plain cash-and-Treasuries reserve7.8
  3. 03DAI / Sky USDS — you are hereOn-chain collateral with transparent, verifiable backing7.6
  4. 04USDTUnmatched liquidity and the widest venue acceptance7.5
Full stablecoinscomparison →

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