I just created a CDP to lock some ether I hold into a smart contract.
This lets me take out DAI, which I used to buy steem.
I turned the steem into steem power. I will delegate that steem power on Minnowbooster for about 30% APR, and pay back the DAI loan over the next year or two until I've paid the loan back in full.
The process took time. Maker is not yet ready for the masses, but the system works. Once a wider variety of (uncorrelated) tokens are necessary to create a CDP, it will be much safer to use this.
If you're not sure whether you understand the MKR/DAI process, you shouldn't experiment with it. At one point, I thought I had lost a couple of ETH. It is very easy to lose money if you're not careful!
But if you want to see what smart contracts can do to allow people to "be their own bank" and draw a loan against their holdings, you'll find dai.makerdao.com a fascinating website. They've got a great tutorial on YouTube as well.
Again, this is not for the beginner! It was quite the learning process for me. But the system works, and it works well. Whether or not you use it, I'd like to point out that the Maker team has made an incredibly powerful system that will benefit the entire ecosystem.
-Jeff
