Decentralized finance (DeFi) pioneer MakerDAO (MKR) has announced plans to expand its ecosystem beyond what it currently offers.

On February 8, MakerDAO, the governing body behind the Maker protocol known for generating the decentralized stablecoin DAI, released details about a new lending protocol dubbed Spark Protocol.

Spark Protocol, which is being developed and maintained by research and development company Phoenix Labs, will be a front-end application that allows users to interact with DAI. 

Spark Protocol’s first product will be Spark Lend, a lending market focused on the most liquid, decentralized, and highest market cap assets.

On top of that, Spark Protocol will rely on pricing oracles provided by Chronicle Labs and Chainlink to enhance security. MakerDAO also announced that it would launch etherDAI, a liquid staking derivative (LSD) for Ethereum (ETH) that will be pegged to ETH.

With the announcement of Spark Protocol, MakerDAO seems to be taking a new path in its development and entering the lending market.

MakerDAO’s decision to enter the lending market indicates that it no longer wants to depend on other DeFi protocols for DAI adoption.

DAI users can borrow and lend only on other DeFi protocols like Aave. Integrating DAI with other DeFi protocols has been Maker’s strategy up until the announcement of Spark Protocol.

Interestingly enough, Spark Lend itself is a hard fork of Aave V3, the most popular lending and borrowing platform in the market. As a thank you, Phoenix Labs said it would send Aave 10% of profits earned in the DAI market for the next two years.

One of the possible reasons why Maker decided to launch its own lending protocol is that Aave has announced its intention to launch a new decentralized stablecoin GHO. 

While Maker’s DAI has dominated the decentralized stablecoin market since it launched six years ago, Aave’s GHO will offer tough competition, especially since it already has its own lending platform.

MakerDAO’s governance token MKR barely reacted to the news. It’s currently trading at $772.02, according to data from CoinGecko.

Maker is the issuer of the largest decentralized stablecoin DAI. MakerDAO’s decision to build its lending platform can be a positive sign for the ever-expanding decentralized finance industry. The increased competition might result in better rates, user experience, and other aspects that users might appreciate.