GM. This is Milk Road. You know that feeling you get when you flip your pillow to the cold side in the middle of the night? Reading us is better than that.
It’s Saturday. Woo! Leggo:
- We did our crypto taxes 🧑💻
- Web3 is comin’ to your phone📱
- FTX wants to relaunch ⏪
- More people are Googling "Bitcoin" than ever 🍪
Prices as of 9:30 AM ET.
THE GANG TRIES CRYPTO TAX SOFTWARE 🧑💻
Every year, we all have to play a game….Guess-Your-Taxes. And we all play against the same team - the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The game goes a little something like this:
IRS: You owe us money. It’s called taxes. Me: How much? IRS: You’ll figure it out. Me: I just pay what I think is right? IRS: Nope. We know exactly how much. But you have to guess. Me: What if I’m wrong? IRS: Fees. Maybe jail. We’ll see.
— George Kamel (@GeorgeKamel)1:21 AM • Apr 13, 2023
I know, I know… it’s bullsh*t. 🤬
To make things worse, the IRS gives us a deadline to play. This year it’s… April 18. (T-3 days) *gulp*
Now, some people finished months ago. But if you’re like the Milk Man, you always wait for the last second to hit the game-winning buzzer-beater. #DifferentBreed
But there’s a problem: crypto makes the Guess-Your-Taxes game even harder. So we hit up some of our smartest crypto friends to see what they were doing...
They all said the same thing: use crypto tax software. We had never used it before, so we decided to take a hike up Figure It Out Mountain™️ 🏔️
In fact, we tried out 7 different crypto tax software… Accounting, Awaken, CoinLedger, CoinTracker, Crypto Tax Calculator, Koinly, and TokenTax.
We put each one to the test by making a bunch of different transactions to see how well the software tracked the data.
We did things like buy crypto, stake it, borrow against it, bridge it, etc. All that was left was to bop it, twist it, and pull it. (If you know, you know)
The results from the test? Check it out…
And guess what? We wrote a whole guide on the pros/cons of each one. We give you a play-by-play of how we used each and more in-depth analysis.
For the Roaders that haven’t filed taxes yet, check it out and bookmark it. This could be a lifesaver.
For the Roaders that have filed taxes, check it out and bookmark it anyway. You’re gonna have to play the Guess-Your-Taxes game all over again next year. Might as well let us help you with an assist.
WEB3 GOES MOBILE 📱
It was Thursday evening, I was a couple cocktails deep at Happy Hour, when the Milk Man texted me:
Milk Man: “Yoooo, Uniswap just broke out of Apple jail”
Me:“What?”
Milk Man:“Yeah, you can download Uniswap’s mobile wallet app on iOS now”
Me:“Ah, solid”
Milk Man:“Right?! Same day that Solana dropped its crypto phone too, what a time to be alive”
I ordered a third drink to celebrate. Why? Because the more mobile crypto gets, the more everyone can interact with the space.
That’s a win in our book. *mass adoption intensifies*
Let’s dig into each new launch.
1/ Solana’s new $1K phone (it’s called Saga)
With that in mind, we decided that we needed to start with an incredible phone, every bit as good as anything else on the market. The result is a sleek and beautifully designed flagship Android phone with premium components from the ultra-experienced team at @OsomPrivacy.
— Solana Mobile 🌱 (@solanamobile)6:25 PM • Apr 13, 2023
Solana is a blockchain with a popular token (SOL) that has an $8B market cap. So it launching a crypto phone is a BFD.
- You can store your seed phrase on the phone. It stays separate from the Android OS, & you can protect it via a fingerprint scan.
- The seed phrase connects to the dApps you download so you can approve transactions instantly.Kinda like Apple Pay for Web3.
- It’ll have a dApp Store for Web3 apps. It won’t be as restricting as Apple’s - no 30% cuts or harsh rules here.
Think of it like a meat lover's pizza: your fav meats are already baked in.
So is this thing legit? We don’t know yet.
We do know crypto phones haven’t done great in the past (HTC has made a few.) One reason is, they target such a niche market.
Crypto diehards might use this as a secondary device; not their primary phone. That’s not helpful when a new smartphone has to compete against Apple, Google, & Samsung.
Don’t tell that to Solana though; it wants Saga to be the only phone people use.
Solana’s over here dreamin’ big.
2/ Apple finally approved Uniswap’s mobile wallet app
So first, what’s this Apple & Uniswap beef?
Apple rejected Uniswap, without an explanation, when it tried launching its mobile app on the App Store in March.
It instead let Uniswap roll the app out to ~10K people via its testing platform (i.e. jail.)
You’d think a company that hid the Bitcoin whitepaper in its Macs for 5 years would be less stingy…
Who knows what made Apple change its mind. But Uniswap’s mobile wallet app is now officially listed on its App Store. (Lookin’ #fresh af, I might add.)
Traders can use it to:
- Buy crypto using fiat
- Swap (exchange a token for another) on Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, & Optimism
- Monitor NFT prices (you can’t trade them though)
Why do we care? Uniswap is a DeFi giant with a major decentralized exchange and $4.26B in total value locked (TVL.)
And now it has a mobile wallet - i.e. a new fighter has entered the ring.
Watch out Metamask & Coinbase.
FTX SAYS IT COULD RELAUNCH IN 2024 ⏪
I was having a good week - BTC & ETH were up, my taxes were done in time, I parallel parked the right way.
But then I heard there was news from FTX, and my palms got sweaty…
The new details? 2 things:
1/ FTX might restart in mid-2024 *Shudder*
That’s right folks: the bankrupt exchange SBF ran before stealing all our money might come back.
But before you freak out, it won’t be easy. They’d need to raise lots of capital via:
- Funds from third parties. That could be hard with the brand’s reputation…
- Selling FTX assets
FTX is also considering letting creditors convert some of their trapped holdings into a stake in the reopened exchange. 👀
2/ FTX has recovered $7.3B of the ~$8B in assets it owes customers
How? Well, it didn’t really recover anything - the value of its recovered assets has just gone up alongside crypto prices (i.e. BTC’s ~80% rise this year.)
FTX’s recovery pool was worth $6.2B in November. Now, it’s worth $7.3B.
We don’t know yet if this means customers will get their money back.
One lawyer said it’s not clear whether they should use its capital to restart the exchange or… repay customers.
#Priorities
MILK & COOKIES 🍪
More people searched “Bitcoin” on Google between April 4 - 11 than at any other time in the past. We would too with Bitcoin surging to $30K+.
Blockchain firm Paxos is winding down its services in Canada because of tightening regulations. dydx (crypto exchange) also said it was leaving.
MILKY MEMES 🤣
That's a wrap for today. Meet us on Twitter to talk all about it. It’s kinda like a family BBQ but better - no screaming kids, awkward photos, or drunk uncles telling weird stories(@MilkRoadDaily)
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ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
When your taxes are due in 3 days
— Milk Road (@MilkRoadDaily)1:18 PM • Apr 15, 2023
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.
