Today’s edition is brought to you by Consensus – join the community of developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers, and more who are taking crypto from the margins to the mainstream at the 10th annual Consensus, May 29 - 31 in Austin, Texas.
Use code MILKROAD for 20% off.
GM. This is Milk Road. We’re like your morning coffee - essential, energizing, and slightly addictive. (And we promise not to stain your shirt).
Here’s what we’re serving up today:
- 4 things to watch this week 👀
- Graph of the Day: $2.7B in weekly inflows 📊
- ‘DogWifHat’ is headed to Las Vegas 🏟️
- Wall Street wants to “tokenize every financial asset” 🍪
Prices as of 12:30 PM ET. Click here for our Fear & Greed Index
4 THINGS TO WATCH THIS WEEK
The recent crypto rally reminds me a lot of a game we played as kids...
It didn’t have an official name, so we just called it the “Hold-The-Ball-Underwater-As-Long-As-You-Can” game ™.
If you’ve ever played, you know that eventually… the ball explodes up!
Right now, crypto prices are flying like that ball.
Now the big question on everyone’s minds is… will the momentum continue?
Who knows. But there are a handful of big events this week that could make or break the rally.
1/ The Dencun upgrade
Ethereum’s next big network upgrade is scheduled for March 13th. (T-2 days!)
The upgrade will significantly reduce gas fees for Ethereum’s Layer 2 rollups – like Optimism, Abritrum, Polygon, etc.
2/ Token unlocks
A whopping $2.7B worth of tokens are set to be unlocked this week.
This includes $2.29B in ARB tokens, $327M in APT tokens, $36M in APE tokens, and more. (Check out the full list here).
3/ U.S. macro data
A ton of crucial inflation data (i.e. February CPI data, retail sales data, jobs data, etc.) are being released.
This data could set the tone for the March Fed meeting next week.
4/ Magic Eden’s ‘ETH OG Diamond’ claim
The NFT marketplace is dropping ‘Diamonds’ for ETH NFT traders on March 13.
If you’ve traded any ETH NFTs since 2017, brush off the dust on those wallets because you might qualify for rewards in a few days.
Buckle up, Roaders. We’ve got a big week ahead!
CONSENSUS 2024 IS LESS THAN THREE MONTHS AWAY!
It’s coming…
This year’s Consensus marks 10 years as the biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain, and Web3.
The 2024 Consensus agenda was just released and it's packed with insightful discussions, hands-on workshops, exciting activations, and next-gen tech explorations.
Here’s the TLDR:
- 170+ speakers with more added every day.
- Check out “Bitcoin: We Are So Back” for insight into this bull market, how it differs from previous run-ups, and the macro investment thesis for Bitcoin and crypto broadly.
- Presentations and analysis from 20+ blockchain protocols, including ETH & BTC Day and Deep Dive Workshops from XRPL, Solana, Avalanche, and more.
- Emerging tech exploration, including The Future of Virtual Societies, With 'Bored Elon Musk' and “How to (Ethically) Build Human AI.”
- Day-long summits dedicated to policy and regulation, the potential impact of digital assets on culture and business, what's next in on-chain innovation, and more.
The list goes on…
Consensus is crypto’s biggest, longest-running, and most influential event.
View the Consensus 2024 Agenda here, oh and…
Click here to get a 20% discount right now using code MILKROAD!
Don’t wait! This deal expires and prices will increase on Thursday, March 14 at 4 p.m. ET.
GRAPH OF THE DAY: $2.7B IN WEEKLY INFLOWS
Crypto investment products have been on fire lately…
- 4 weeks ago, they hit $2.45B in inflows. A weekly record at the time.
- Last week, they hit $2.7B in inflows. A new weekly record.
That’s 2 broken records in 4 weeks. (*woogity woogity woogity*)
Here’s everything else you need to know from the latest report:
- Year-to-date inflows now total $10.3B. It’s just shy of the yearly record ($10.6B) set in 2021… and we’re not even 25% through the year!
- BTC led the way with 99% of inflows. You come at the King, you best not miss.
- SOL broke its streak of outflows. After 3 straight weeks of sell-offs, SOL finally saw some inflows.
- ETH saw a minor sell-off ($2.1M). It was the only cryptocurrency that witnessed outflows last week.
Milk Road Take: We’ve been tracking these weekly flows for ~2 years now and we’ve never seen numbers like this before.
It’s crazy.
Just to give you an idea of how crazy, let’s compare last year vs. now.
LAST YEAR…
- Weekly inflows never hit $500M. Not even once! (In fact, the scale on the graph used to only go up to $400M).
- Flows would flip weekly. One week, there were inflows. The next week, there were outflows…
It was like when your shower all of a sudden goes ice cold because someone turned on the dishwasher.
NOW…
- $500M in weekly flows is the new “norm”. 7 out of 10 weeks this year have seen at least half a billion in total inflows.
- Inflows are a lot more consistent. There have only been 2 weeks of outflows this year.
We’ll see if crypto can continue its red-hot streak this week.
DOGWIFHAT IS HEADED TO VEGAS
There’s a new money maker in Las Vegas…
It’s curvy, seductive, and tech nerds are throwing millions of dollars its way…
(Nope. It’s not a stripper!)
Say hello to… the Las Vegas Sphere.
- It’s a music and entertainment arena that’s shaped like a big ass sphere. It measures in at 366 ft. tall and 516 ft. wide. #thicc
- Events can be held inside the Sphere. The arena can hold ~20,000 people and has 160,000+ speakers for immersive audio experiences.
- Brands can advertise on the outside of the Sphere. Btw, this can cost anywhere between $450K per day → $650K for a week of ads.
Some of the biggest names in the game (like Microsoft, Sony, Google, etc.) have used it to advertise their products.
Now… one of the most popular crypto projects, DogWifHat ($WIF), is trying to raise $650,000 to get a spot on the Sphere.
As of this writing, $WIF has raised $305,227. (47% of the way there!)
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
The OG wallet, Exodus, offers an accessible way to onramp, store, and swap your crypto across multiple blockchains. Its wallet is available via desktop, mobile, and browser extension apps, and you can read more about its growing list of services in our review!
Larry Fink bets Bitcoin ETFs are just the beginning as Wall Street eyes a $10T “tokenization play”. The goal? “The tokenization of every financial asset”. —DL News
Bitcoin’s transaction volume has skyrocketed over the last week. It just hit its highest level in 18 months.
Coinbase surpassed its initial direct listing price ($250) for the first time in 2+ years. The crypto exchange still has a ways to go before it nears a new all-time high ($342).
Wyoming passed a law giving DAOs a nonprofit legal framework. This provides a framework for DAOs of at least 100 members to become unincorporated nonprofit associations. It will go into effect July 1, 2024.
Grayscale and Coinbase met with the SEC to talk about ETH ETFs. Grayscale is in the process of converting its Ethereum Trust into an ETF.
DC Comics is teaming up with Candy Digital to launch a new Batman NFT collection. There will be 11,544 Batman-themed NFTs, celebrating the iconic superhero's 85th anniversary.
MILKY MEMES 🤣
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ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
POV: How blurry your eyesight gets after staring at 13323 graphs in the span 4 minutes.
— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)4:51 PM • Mar 11, 2024
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.
