GM. This is Milk Road, the ‘Vogue’ of crypto newsletters – we spot trends before they hit!
Here’s what we got for you today:
- ✍️ 3 market-moving trends for 2026
- ✍️ InfraFi vs. the AI energy crisis
- 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: Crypto Storm Is Ending: How 2025 Pain Sets Up 2026 Gains w/ Jesse Eckel
- 🍪 Terminally online? We just opened a new Social Media Manager role
The Fold Bitcoin Gift Card™ makes gifting bitcoin easy, secure, and instant. Available now at Kroger stores nationwide and online at FoldApp.com.
Prices as of 2:00 PM ET. Trade today with Milk Road Swap.
3 MARKET-MOVING TRENDS TO WATCH FOR IN 2026 🔍
Man, crypto has come so far!
We went from having a store of value (Bitcoin) and nothing else, to a fully operational onchain financial system in the span of 15 years or so.
… yet most people couldn’t care less.
So how do we get ‘most’ people’s attention? We believe the secret sauce is this:
Bring traditional assets onchain, report on them using TradFi-friendly language, and mix it all in with the added speed, cost, and yield opportunities offered by blockchain tech.
Here are the 3 trends that will bring us closer to this goal in 2026:
1. Real World Asset (RWA) growth
When RWAs are exchanged onchain, every trade’s fee is paid in the underlying blockchain’s native token.
(E.g. ETH is used to pay fees when RWAs are traded on Ethereum.)
Translation: the mother of all demand drivers will hit the chains that are chosen to support RWAs, because traditional asset markets are MASSIVE, and every trade will require native tokens in order to work.
Watch this chart – the faster it grows in 2026, the faster the traditional financial world is moving onchain:
2. Standardized financial data delivered in a familiar language
Imagine if the Harry Potter books were written in Latvian and never translated into any other language. The story would still be solid. But less people would read it.
Same goes for blockchain tech. It’s world-class in its offerings. But to traditional investors, it's essentially another language.
Instead of waiting/hoping for TradFi to (metaphorically) learn Latvian, we need to translate crypto into familiar TradFi terms.
That means standardized reporting for crypto apps, using the same data points TradFi investors are used to (P/E ratios, Earnings Per Share / token, etc.).
‘Cause right now, crypto reporting feels like a familiar, but off-brand version of what most investors are used to. 👇
3. The DeFi-ification of traditional assets
Imagine being able to lend out your stock holdings onchain to earn an extra 5% or so per year.
(All while reducing costs and increasing speeds when trading/investing.)
That becomes possible when traditional assets move onchain – and it’s going to be a MASSIVE selling point to ‘most’ global TradFi investors.
The takeaway?
Your 2026 bingo card needs to include:
- An RWA boom
- Standardized reporting
- The DeFi-ification of traditional assets
FORGET SOCKS THIS HOLIDAY. GIVE BITCOIN INSTEAD.
Finding the right Christmas gift just got easier.
The Fold Bitcoin Gift Card™ lets you give up to $500 in bitcoin instantly and securely.
Here’s why it’s a great gift:
- Safe and simple to redeem
- Delivers real value instantly
- Fits in any pocket (or stocking 😉)
And the best part?
Anyone can use it. No crypto experience needed. It's as simple as giving any other gift card.
Socks are cute. Bitcoin is better.
CAN INFRAFI HELP SOLVE THE LOOMING AI ENERGY CRISIS? 🤨
First things first – what the hell is ‘InfraFi’?
Short answer: it’s the younger cousin of DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure).
Long answer: Instead of adding physical infrastructure to a shared network like you would in DePIN (e.g. supplying computing power to a network that runs AI models)...
InfraFi provides the funding to build out physical infrastructure.
Take DayFi for example – they’re focused on backing small scale solar & battery farms.
Here’s the problem being solved, in three parts:
1. Private credit won’t touch these small scale builds
Legal fees + paperwork + bank fees = cost & friction. And too much cost/friction makes funding a $5-10M solar farm unattractive for larger private lenders.
But blockchain fixes that as it allows relevant rules, agreements, and payments to be coded into a smart contract once, then automated in perpetuity.
2. Deal size
For private credit firms, small scale builds are not worth their time. They’re chasing billion-dollar deals, not $5-10M builds.
InfraFi lets small scale projects essentially crowd fund from hundreds/thousands of investors onchain (instead of one private credit giant).
3. Energy demand
This weekend we’re releasing our first Milk Road PRO AI Report - and energy is at the center of it.
(Sign up to our free, twice-weekly Milk Road AI newsletter to get the full report when it drops!)
Not to spoil our findings, but… we’ve got a problem.
Our current/planned energy infrastructure won’t meet future demand.
Solar is the quickest form of energy infrastructure to build out, and small scale, hyper local farms are the ‘quickest of the quick’.
Meaning InfraFi can help solve the ‘funding’ bottleneck for these kinds of small-scale builds.
The promise being made by InfraFi projects like DayFi:
Fund localized infrastructure builds (in this case, solar farms & batteries) → get a cut of the project’s revenue.
Will it work? No idea.
But as a concept, it’s cool as hell!
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
Trade like a pro, but pay zero fees. Paradex offers a retail-only lane with RPI Orders, allowing everyday traders to get better prices than high-frequency traders.*
Did we just bail out China? The U.S. and China just played reverse cards on each other.
Saucy: Bitcoin gets an ‘after dark’ ETF filing.
"No Crypto Winter" - JPMorgan. They believe macro forces will outweigh the recent sell-off drivers.
Terminally online? Why not get paid for your talents? Come join our marketing arm! We just opened a new Social Media Manager role.
500+ cryptos. 11,000 stocks. 190+ countries. We’ve just done a thorough review on one of crypto’s oldest exchanges.
*this is sponsored content.
MILKY MEMES 🤣
ROADIE REVIEW OF THE DAY 🥛
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
