GM. This is the Milk Road, the daily crypto newsletter that brings you a ray of sunshine on your cloudy days.
And man, have there been a bunch of cloudy days recently...
- The Bank of England and Credit Suisse are both on the brink of financial collapse
- Inflation is at all-time highs in many countries around the world
And the Choco Taco was just recently discontinued. (R.I.P to the Ice Cream Snack of American Summers)
But don't worry. The Milk Road is still going strong.
Here's what we got for ya today:
- Q3 Recap - Winners & Losers
- Quick bites
- Meme of the day
Q3 RECAP - WINNERS & LOSERS
Well, ladies & gents, it’s officially October. And that means 2 things…
1/ It’s OVO season. Meaning you can listen to Drake all month long without being called “soft”.
2/ It’s historically a green month for crypto. On average, BTC goes up 24.1% and ETH goes up 3.2%.
Here’s how October has shaped up over the years:
October also means it's the start of 2022's 4th Quarter. And as we start the new chapter we wanna look at how Q3 went.
So we’re coming at ya with the Q3 Milk Road Winners & Losers. Let’s start with some of the winners, we got 3 of em…
INSTITUTIONAL ADOPTION
Traditional institutions are jumping into crypto faster than Amazon Prime deliveries.
In Q3, we saw:
- Blackrock, the largest asset manager in the world, partnered with Coinbase to offer crypto trading to institutional customers
- Nasdaq announced the launch of new Bitcoin & Crypto Custody services for their institutional clients
- Fidelity started offering Bitcoin as a 401k investment for clients & is considering making crypto trading available to their 34m brokerage customers
- WisdomTree announced the launch of a digital fund to bring real world assets to the blockchain
We've always heard that the only way for Ethereum and Bitcoin to 10x was to get more institutions to adopt crypto.
Well, ladies & gents, it’s happening...
ETHEREUM
Vitalik and Co had a historic quarter.
And that’s because of one big thing: the Merge. This was Ethereum's biggest update yet, moving from proof of work → proof-of-stake.
The result? A big success - Ethereum is now using 99.95% less energy.
This is what the difference looks like:
Ethereum looks like it could be on one of those weight loss commercials.
And we’re seeing more brands open up to the idea of Ethereum since going eco-friendly. Chiptole even ran a 99.95% discount on their new steak burrito to celebrate the Merge.
Overall - a great quarter for Ethereum, and ETH has gone up 24% because of it.
POLYGON
Polygon was on fire in Q3. They looked like 2015 Klay Thompson when he scored 37 points in the third quarter to set an NBA record.
And it’s all because of one thing - partnerships. In Q3, Polygon teamed up with:
- Starbucks to launch its web3 loyalty program
- Stripe to allow contractors to be paid out with crypto anywhere in the world
- Robinhood to launch its first non-custodial wallet
Other partnerships include Disney, Facebook, and Mercedes-Benz. And Polygon's token, MATIC, is up big because of it (up 55% in Q3).
Now, onto the Losers. There was plenty of 'em, but none bigger than these 2...
CRYPTO CEO'S
Crypto CEOs were on the hot seat this quarter. It felt like every week one of them was getting fired, resigning, or trying to avoid bankruptcy.
- Michael Saylor resigned as CEO of MicroStrategy so he could focus on buying more Bitcoin
- Jesse Powell stepped down as CEO of Kraken to get away from the crypto drama
But the worst of the worst are the 3 CEOs that are currently wanted by police: Do Kwon, Su Zhu, and Kyle Davies.
If the police are serious about finding these guys, they know who they need to call...
Liam Neeson.
And now onto the other big loser of Q3...
FIAT CURRENCIES
Over the last months, fiat currencies like the Euro, British Pound, Yuan, etc have all plummeted in value. They’re looking like the new shitcoins of crypto.
And it's because we're seeing the Dollar Milkshake Theory play out in real life. It’s the idea that the US dollar is weakening, but at the same time, all other fiat currencies are weakening more.
And because the dollar is the bedrock of the global economy (aka USD is used to buy most things in the world) it will kill all other currencies.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. So far, a stronger U.S dollar has meant lower crypto prices.
But you never know. I mean it’s called the Milkshake theory...not the most scientific thing in the world.
We'll be keeping a close eye on it!
TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY NEXO
Traditional finance.
I don’t know about you, but now that I’ve experienced crypto I don’t ever wanna do things the ole’ “traditional” way.
Which is why Nexo caught our attention - it’s an all-in-one crypto platform that lets you buy crypto, earn interest*, borrow funds from 0%, and trade digital assets at the best possible prices.
And they just made a HUGE move by acquiring a stake in the US federally chartered Summit National Bank. This means Nexo can offer its US clients:
- bank accounts
- asset-backed loans
- card programs
Its crypto meets traditional finance.
On top of that, Nexo just recently celebrated 5m users, launched a new Pro trading platform, and successfully protected their clients’ assets through thick and thin.
Just like a fortified igloo, Nexo is the safest place to spend a crypto winter. Join now!
*Nexo Earn Product is not available for citizens or residents of certain jurisdictions, including where restrictions may apply, such as the United States, Bulgaria, and Estonia.
QUICK HITTERS
The SEC has charged Kim Kardashian for promoting a crypto token, EthereumMax, without disclosing the payment she received for the promotion."And on the next episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians..."
Telefonica, Spain's largest telecom company, is launching a pilot for crypto payments on its online marketplace. They're partnering with Bit2Me, Spain's largest crypto exchange, to make it happen.
WazirX, an Indian crypto exchange, has cut 40% of its staff. Ouch.
MEME OF THE DAY
If you didn’t hear, the Solana network went down for the 123rd time this year. It’s officially been out of service more than my local Mcdonald's ice cream machine…
That's a wrap for today. Stay thirsty & see ya tomorrow!
If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)
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A ROADERS REVIEW
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.
