Standard Chartered has put a bold number on the future of the SKY token: $0.325 by the end of 2028, roughly five times its current price.
The bank began coverage of Sky’s governance token on Friday, with global head of digital assets research Geoff Kendrick laying out a thesis built less around crypto speculation and more around the growth of Sky’s stablecoin business.
SKY was trading near $0.06 on Friday, up 2.4% for the day and 11% over the previous 30 days, giving the token a market value of about $1.4 billion, according to CoinGecko. Standard Chartered used $0.065 as its starting point and expects SKY to reach $0.080 in 2026 and $0.180 in 2027.
At the heart of the forecast is USDS, Sky’s dollar-pegged stablecoin. Kendrick argues that as the amount of USDS in circulation grows, so does the economic value flowing back to SKY holders.
“We estimate that the value Sky passes on to SKY token holders will increase 5x by end-2028 from today’s level, driven by growth in both the Sky ecosystem and USDS outstanding,” Kendrick wrote. “All other things being equal, this should drive a 5x rise in the SKY price.”
The SKY Token Has a New Wall Street Metaphor
Kendrick’s preferred way to describe Sky is unusually institutional for DeFi: “The Sky ecosystem is akin to a federal bank – it issues money (stablecoins), creates a governance framework and charges a wholesale rate of interest to borrowers,” the note says.
That comparison is built around three main sources of revenue: net interest income from agent borrowing, yield generated through its peg stability module using USDC, and crypto-backed vaults.
Sky’s agents are central to the model. They operate as decentralized capital allocators, borrowing USDS and deploying it into different yield strategies while competing on returns.
Sky itself describes these participants as independent capital allocators that access USDS liquidity under risk parameters determined through governance.
According to Standard Chartered, agents have borrowed $5.9 billion since the system was created in September 2024. Kendrick describes the structure as a way to outsource expansion of the broader Sky ecosystem.
Sky’s June financial update showed total Prime Agent deployments above $5.5 billion. Among the biggest allocations were $1.24 billion to Janus Henderson, $713 million to BlackRock’s BUIDL and $260 million to Anchorage.
Why USDS Matters So Much to the SKY Token
For Standard Chartered, the central growth lever is simple: more USDS outstanding.
The USDS supply on Ethereum was around $6.62 billion based on the token contract. Sky, meanwhile, reported total USDS supply of $10.04 billion in June and $11.14 billion in May.
The protocol’s Q4 2025 update projected USDS supply would reach $20.6 billion in 2026, representing a 124% increase from the $9.2 billion recorded at the end of 2025.
That growth assumption also reveals the biggest weakness in Kendrick’s forecast. “The main risk to this view would be if yield-bearing stablecoin growth is slower than expected,” the note says.
USDS ranked as the third-largest stablecoin at roughly $6.66 billion, behind Tether’s $183.38 billion and Circle’s USDC at $74.38 billion, according to DeFiLlama. Sky also issues DAI, which stood at $4.79 billion.
The note describes Sky as the third-largest stablecoin issuer and the biggest issuer of yield-bearing stablecoins. Ethena’s USDe followed with approximately $4.47 billion.
How the SKY Token Gets the Value
Sky returns value to SKY holders through staking rewards and token buybacks.
Over the previous 30 days, the protocol generated $27.2 million in fees and $13.45 million in revenue, with $3.36 million going to holders, according to DeFiLlama. Its annualized fees stood at $400.73 million, while annualized revenue reached $214.41 million.
Sky also held $5.58 billion in total value locked.
Its buyback program has become another important part of the token story. Sky repurchased 18.6 million SKY during the trailing 30-day period and had spent $120 million cumulatively on buybacks since the program began in February 2025.
The protocol’s June update also reported $107.35 million in gross revenue and $40.09 million in net revenue for the second quarter. Its annualized gross revenue run rate was $419.08 million.
Kendrick expects the value returned to SKY holders to accelerate much sooner than 2028. In a message accompanying the report, he wrote that “the next 12 months will see a doubling at least” in value pass-through to token holders.
“By end-2028 I think this will see the SKY token price increase 5x,” he added.
The forecast also sits inside a much broader bullish call from Standard Chartered. Kendrick sees ether reaching $18,000 and bitcoin $300,000 by the end of 2028, compared with targets of $4,000 and $100,000 for 2026.
On those projections, Standard Chartered expects the SKY token to keep pace with ether while outperforming bitcoin through 2028.
Sky rebranded from MakerDAO in 2024, turning what was once one of DeFi’s most recognizable names into a broader protocol centered on stablecoin issuance, capital deployment and governance.
Standard Chartered’s research disclaimer makes clear that the report is not a recommendation or solicitation directed at any specific client. Still, the SKY token forecast offers a striking glimpse of how traditional financial research is beginning to value DeFi: not just by token narratives, but by the cash flows and financial machinery sitting underneath them.