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GM. This is Milk Road, where we craft crypto news like artisanal bread – with care, patience, and a touch of magic.
Here’s what we got for you today:
- The state of crypto 👀
- This town is launching a new stablecoin 🪙
- Stablecoins are booming in Argentina 🍪
Prices as of 7:00 AM ET. Click here for our Fear & Greed Index
THE STATE OF CRYPTO 👀
Let’s talk about the state of crypto.
But instead of throwing a boring 10-page PDF at you, we’re gonna do it in 4 pictures.
Why? Cause we like our industry reports the same way we like our rice – quick, easy, and ready in 90 seconds. (Shoutout to Uncle Ben).
OK, let’s dive in.
1/ Institutional money keeps flowing into crypto-related products
The results from CoinShares’ latest Digital Asset Fund Flow report are in… drumroll...
- $1.1B was invested into digital asset investment products last week. Bringing the year-to-date total to $2.7B in inflows.
- Total assets under management (AUM) just hit $59B. The highest level since early 2022.
- The focus remains on newly issued Bitcoin ETFs. The new Bitcoin ETFs have seen $3B in total inflows since January 11th. (Fun fact: it took Gold about 2 years to hit that mark).
- BTC led the way and made up 98% of the inflows. If you come for the King, you best not miss…
- Most altcoins also saw minor inflows. ETH, SOL, ADA, AVAX, and MATIC all saw inflows between $1M - $16M.
This is now the 3rd week this year where weekly inflows have hit $700M+.
Ladies & gents, the institutional floodgates have been busted wide open.
2/ DeFi TVL is at its highest level in 20 months
The total value locked (TVL) across DeFi protocols just crossed $69B(giggity) for the first time since June 2022…
- TVL on Ethereum: $41.2B - this is a +37% increase over the last month, led by protocols like EigenLayer, Spark, Ether.fi, Pendle, and Swell.
- TVL on Solana: $1.92B - this is a +35% increase over the last month, led by protocols like Jito, Kamino, Marginfi, and Marinade Finance.
- TVL on Arbitrum: $2.9B (highest ever) - this is a +12% increase over the last month, led by protocols like GMX, Hyperliquid, and Camelot.
- TVL on Bitcoin: $927.5M (highest ever) - this is a +182.9% increase over the last month, led by protocols like Merlins Seal, Lightning Network, and Thorchain.
It’s official… DeFi has gone multi-chain.
3/ Here’s what happens to ‘shiny objects’ in crypto…
Remember Friend.Tech?
- It was the social media dApp that had everyone in crypto hot & bothered a few months ago.
- It hit a peak of 70K+ daily users.
- It attracted big names – including athletes, pro gamers, and OnlyFans creators (i.e. The Holy Trinity of Influencers™).
Fast forward to today, Friend.Tech has about 300 daily users…
The lesson: not everything that glitters is gold.
You’re gonna see a new shiny crypto project every week, most start with a bang and end with a whisper.
4/ The biggest NFT sale of the year just happened
An NFT just sold for 279 ETH (worth $739,000). It’s the biggest buy of 2024 so far.
Without further ado, I present to you…. Ether Rock #19.
I know what you’re thinking… this f*cking digital rock just sold for the price of a house!
Well, let me tell you a bit about this rock:
- Ether Rocks were created back in 2017. #OGStatus
- It’s one of the first NFT projects on Ethereum (they were created the same year as CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties).
- There are only 100 of ‘em .
The funniest part? They were created as the digital version of Pet Rocks - the popular collectible toy from the 70’s.
It was literally a “pet” rock in a box. It even came with a 32-page official training manual titled “The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock” (yes, it’s real).
Sounds like something no one would buy, right?
Wrong. Over 1.5M Pet Rocks were sold in 1976.
At one point, there were 100K+ sales… EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
You know what they say, dogs rocks are man’s best friend.
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THIS TOWN IS LAUNCHING ITS OWN STABLECOIN 🪙
On today’s episode of How Crypto Is Being Used in the Real World…
We’re taking you to Mińsk Mazowiecki, Poland. Population: 40,000 strong.
- The Polish town is launching a new stablecoin called MinsCoins.
- 10 local businesses will begin accepting the new stablecoin once it launches.
- It’s meant to be “shopper-friendly money” that offers a new way for people to engage with local businesses and community projects.
- Individuals will eventually be able to earn tokens by taking part in initiatives that help out the community (i.e. people could earn tokens for walking or taking the bus, instead of driving everywhere and polluting the air).
Pretty cool.
We’ll check back in a few months to see how much adoption it actually gets with the locals.
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
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Stablecoin transactions are booming in Argentina. The country has long suffered from economic troubles and the inflation rate last year rose above 200%. The solution? Stablecoins.
Ledger is teaming up with Coinbase to streamline crypto purchases. The new partnership will allow users to easily purchase cryptocurrencies and transfer them into self-custody storage.
Franklin Templeton is joining the race to launch a spot ETH ETF. According to the Monday filing, Franklin is also interested in staking the ether (ETH) held by the proposed fund.
Puffer Finance hit $850M in total value locked (TVL). It’s now the second-largest liquid staking protocol.
FTX’s bankruptcy estate plans to sell one of the exchanges' recently acquired businesses. The business was acquired for $10M a few months before FTX went bankrupt. Now, they’re planning to sell it for $500,000 - a 95% loss. Ouch.
Ethiopia’s cheap electricity is attracting mining companies. The country has banned crypto trading but legalized Bitcoin mining in 2022.
*This is sponsored content
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ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
When you hear another ETH ETF application was filed...
— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)4:40 PM • Feb 13, 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.
