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By Jamie Crawley, AI Boost|Edited by Sheldon Reback
Aug 11, 2025, 3:08 p.m.
- Sky’s B- marks the first time a major credit ratings company has graded a DeFi protocol.
- Sky’s USDS stablecoin has a $7.1 billion market cap, ranking third behind USDT and USDC.
- The move follows S&P’s growing activity in tokenized funds and blockchain-based finance.
S&P Global Ratings assigned a B- (stable outlook) issuer credit rating to Sky Protocol, the decentralized lending platform formerly known as Maker Protocol, in a first for the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.
The Ethereum-based protocol issues the USDS stablecoin, created when borrowers post approved collateral. With a $7.1 billion market cap, USDS trails only USDT and USDC in size. Sky also offers savings vaults, enabling holders to earn yield via savings USDS (sUSDS).
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Jonathan Manley, S&P’s global head of market outreach, called the rating a “significant milestone” that will help bring greater transparency to DeFi.
The move comes as S&P expands its coverage into blockchain-based finance, recently rating tokenized treasury funds and blockchain mortgage securitizations. Sky is itself an investor in Janus Henderson’s tokenized treasury products.
S&P’s separate Stablecoin Stability Assessment rates USDS’s peg-maintenance ability at 4 (constrained) on a five-point scale.
The rating underscores growing overlap between traditional credit analysis and the evolving DeFi market.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Jamie has been part of CoinDesk’s news team since February 2021, focusing on breaking news, Bitcoin tech and protocols and crypto VC. He holds BTC, ETH and DOGE.
“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.
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