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Buy Maker in Canada

Maker made simpleMaker-coin-logo

Everything you need to know about Maker and how to start investing in it.

Current Price

This one’s easy: the price the coin or token is trading at right now.

$2,833.77 CAD

+$314.86 (12.50%) past 24 hours

Market Cap
The value of the entire supply of a specific cryptocurrency or token. It’s calculated by taking the price of a coin/token and multiplying it by the total number of that coin/token in circulation.
$2,325,480,968.77
Circulating Supply
The amount of coins that have already been created and are available in the market.
$888,868.49
Total Supply
The total amount of coins currently in existence minus any coins that have been burned or removed from circulation.
$917,911.17
24h low - high range
Low-high range over the past 24 hours.
$2,387.60 - $2,838.61
7 day low - high range
Low-high range over the past 7 days.
$2,195.22 - $3,436.43
52 week low - high range
Low-high range over the past 52 weeks.
$1,374.80 - $5,670.09

Maker 101

Maker is a decentralized lending protocol that powers an algorithmic stablecoin called DAI. Think of it like a decentralized money market fund that uses lending markets to maintain the price by minting and burning coins. DAI is the largest algorithmic, or decentralized, stablecoin, by market capitalization.

Each DAI is backed by cryptocurrencies, including some centralised stablecoins—as of October 2021, $0.39 of USDC and $0.1 of WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin), as well as $0.41 of ETH, the native cryptocurrency that powers the blockchain that houses Maker, Ethereum, and $0.1 in other cryptocurrencies. These allocations change over time.

DAI is what is known as an overcollateralised stablecoin, since its supply is far smaller than the value of the cryptocurrencies that back it. When you lend $150 in ETH, for instance, you can only borrow $100 in DAI. This is because ETH, plus the other assets backing DAI, are volatile and risky. The protocol needs that extra security to ensure that it can still maintain its peg in the event of an economic crash.

Because Maker is decentralized, it needed to create a way for its community to vote on how things should be run. For this reason, the team behind it decided to create MKR, or Maker tokens. MKR is what is known as a governance token. Among other things, MKR holders can vote to add another collateral asset, change the set of price feeds the protocol uses as a reference point, or trigger an emergency shutdown of the protocol.

MKR also plays another important role: to act as the last line of defense in the event of an economic crash. If ETH falls from $150 to $50, the protocol might not have enough money to pay back depositors. As a last resort, Maker could trigger a debt auction, where new MKR is minted and then sold for DAI until the shortfall is covered and everything is back to normal. Other lending markets, such as Aave, also use a governance token in emergencies.

Why Wealthsimple Crypto?

Wealthsimple Crypto lets you buy and sell cryptocurrencies all in one easy-to-use app. And as Canada’s first regulated crypto platform, you can trust that your coins are in good hands. How simple is it?

  • 1
    Sign up in minutes right from your phone or laptop
  • 2
    Start trading crypto with as little as $1
  • 3
    No account minimums
  • 4
    No clunky dashboards — just one super simple app
  • 5
    Best of all: you don’t need to be an expert in crypto or blockchain to get started
Get started with Crypto

What can you do with MKR?

You can do a few things with Maker. The first is to use it for its intended purpose: as a voting chip for Maker’s decentralized autonomous organisation (DAO) module, where you can use MKR to vote on how things are run.

The second is to hope that MKR rises in value and hold it as a speculative asset. MKR’s price is somewhat a function of the value of voting rights in Maker, and if DAI becomes even more important, MKR might rise. (It should be noted that DAI is already the largest decentralized stablecoin, with a market capitalisation of $6.4 billion, as of October 2021).

The third is to stake it in a DeFi protocol or in an exchange. Note that this requires putting your fund at risk. Lots of DeFi protocols are untested, and often break or get hacked.

Is Maker a smart investment?

Crypto carries risks — but generally speaking, our advice (regardless of whether you’re investing in Maker or stocks) is: never invest what you can’t afford to lose. The smartest way to grow your money long term is with a diversified, low-cost portfolio that tracks the market.

How we keep your Maker safe

As Canada’s first regulated crypto trading platform, we’re required to meet certain requirements — like using only qualified custodians (like Coinbase Custody) for cold storage.

FYI: Wealthsimple Crypto is not an exchange itself. Instead, we work with multiple exchanges to give you the best Maker prices.

And to make sure your coins are extra protected, we’ve partnered with Coincover for an extra layer of security.

If you’re holding crypto outside of Wealthsimple, that’s no problem. You can safely transfer your Maker to your Wealthsimple account in just a few taps.

Other cryptos to explore

More info about Maker

Want to take a deeper dive? Check out these articles about Maker and the world of crypto.

Explore all articles on Crypto

Ready to get started?

Download the Wealthsimple Trade app, create your account, and start trading Maker with just $1. It’s that simple.

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FAQs

Maker is a governance token for the MakerDAO protocol. MakerDAO is a decentralized lending protocol that holds $18 billion in value as of October 2021. These loans maintain the value of a decentralized US dollar-pegged stablecoin called DAI. DAI is the largest stablecoin of its kind, but smaller than centralized alternatives like USDC or Tether. MKR lets you vote on how DAI’s peg is maintained, and it also functions as a line of last resort in case of an economic crash.

As of October 28, 2021, there are 901,310 MKR coins in circulation, out of a total supply of about 1 million. However, the protocol can mint and sell coins in the event of an economic crash. This is to help ensure that the value of DAI, the decentralized stablecoin that MKR supports, maintains a value of one US dollar.

You can’t really spend MKR on your groceries—that’s be like trying to buy a bar of chocolate with Tesla stock. However, you can “spend” it in Maker’s governance protocol to vote on the parameters that maintain the value of DAI, a decentralized stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.

Because MKR is a token based on the Ethereum blockchain, you can stake it (lock it up to earn rewards) in any protocol that supports it. Note that lots of these protocols are risky and experimental.

Yep! When you open a Wealthsimple Crypto account, you can get started with anywhere from $1 to $1,500 instantly.

Generally speaking, the CRA treats cryptocurrencies as a commodity. Here’s what they say:

Any income from transactions involving cryptocurrency is generally treated as business income or as a capital gain, depending on the circumstances. Similarly, if earnings qualify as business income or as a capital gain then any losses are treated as business losses or capital losses.

Always keep solid records of any Maker transactions. If you use Wealthsimple Crypto to buy or sell cryptocurrencies, we’ll generate some of those tax documents for you.

Maker’s current market cap is $2,325,480,969.00.

The current price for Maker in Canadian dollars is $2,833.77.

Buying Maker with Wealthsimple is, well, simple. The first thing you need to do is open and fund a Crypto account in the Wealthsimple Trade app. You can connect your bank account and add up to $1,500 instantly.

From there, follow these steps:

  1. Tap the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of your screen
  2. Type in Maker
  3. Tap Buy
  4. Enter the dollar value of cryptocurrency you'd like to buy and tap Continue
  5. Review the order details and tap Confirm order

You can choose between two different order types when buying Maker. A market order lets you buy or sell crypto immediately at the best available price at the time. A limit order lets you buy or sell crypto at a specific price or better.

You can withdraw funds from the cash balance in your Crypto account and move those funds to your bank account. Withdrawals typically take around 2 - 3 business days.

A crypto wallet — often called a “hot wallet” — is a location for holding crypto “on-chain” (i.e. linked to the blockchain versus off-chain cold storage.) Many users use wallet applications to help them manage their blockchain addresses, since each chain uses its own addresses.