GM. This is the Milk Road, the daily newsletter that makes crypto as exciting as the World Cup Final. And congrats to the Argentine Milk Roaders.
Here's to another 4 years of calling it fútbol, not soccer.
Here's what we got for ya today:
- Trump's NFTs pump over the weekend
- Big weekend sell-off for DCG assets. What's going on?
- Quick Bites
- Milky Memes
TRUMP'S NFTS PUMP OVER THE WEEKEND
In case you missed it, Donald Trump dropped an NFT collection last week.
That’s right. From businessman → TV personality → President → NFTs. (And some stops to the tanning parlor and toupée shop in between.)
And boy, were these digital trading cards the talk of the town this weekend.
Why? 3 reasons… The art. The marketing. The execution.
1/ The Art
There's no other way to put it...the art is awful.
It looks like Don hired my 6 yr old niece to use Photoshop (btw, she has no idea what Photoshop is.)
But here’s the real kicker. Just take a look at the description of the collection.
“Incredible, hand-drawn art, inspired by President Trump’s extraordinary life & career."
Incredible? The Milk Man had better art in the 3rd grade.
Hand-drawn? No shot.
Inspired by life & career? Hmm… **checks Wikipedia page** ...
Interesting. Never knew Donald was a former NASCAR driver, astronaut, and cowboy.
But wait! There's more…
2/ The Marketing
Donald’s marketing team took a page right out of the 2000’s infomercial “playbook."
“Limited edition digital trading cards!”
“Your chance to win amazing prizes!”
“Only $99!”
It was somewhere in between an OxiClean ad & Celine Dion selling me CDs at 2 a.m.
So, how successful was it?
3/ The Execution
Donald’s collection of 45,000 NFTs sold out in 12 hours. That’s ~$4.45m made in half a day.
The collection has done $2m+ in secondary sales and jumped 700%+ in price over the weekend. It’s the #2 trending collection behind the Bored Apes.
Sounds great, right? Sure.
But a few people have pointed out some *irregularities*...
- Trump's NFT trading cards are based on photos that were stolen from Amazon listings and Shutterstock images. Some of them still have watermarks too... (BAD!)
- Trump apparently minted 1,000 of his own NFTs in his wallet and gave himself the rare ones. He owns 26% of the 1-of-1s and 28% of the autographed NFTs. Trump loves Trump more than Kanye loves Kanye.
Oh, and the Trump NFT company's address on the official website points to this building.
Talk about sketch... Looks like a place that could be featured on an episode of True Crime or Unsolved Mysteries.
HERE'S WHAT PEOPLE ON TWITTER ARE SAYING...
Donald did sell out his project in less than a day & made millions. Something many other celebrities can't say.
But the shadiness surrounding the art & where it came from put into question whether the project will survive in the long run.
Stay tuned to find out if the 45th President of the U.S. is also the 45th celeb to flop on an NFT project.
TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY HONEYLAND
2022 was supposed to be the year of play-to-earn games.
But there was too much focus on “earn” and not enough on “play.”
A new game is changing that.
It’s called Honeyland and it focuses on gameplay first and economic incentives second.
Honeyland isn’t just another boring game randomly incorporating cryptocurrency.
It has a full suite of in-game assets and a new approach to “play-to-earn” called “play-to-own." Here are the main game features:
- Their free-to-play model allows you to get Bees and start earning
- Manage a hive of NFT Bees you send on strategic missions to get more $HXD (in-game currency) or NFTs
- You own land NFTs to collect commissions from players using your land
It’s a mobile game built to play in short spurts like Candy Crush and Clash of Clans.
Right now the current floor price for Honeyland’s NFTs is 17 SOL, and their next collection mints Dec. 21 on Magic Eden for 1.5 SOL.
You can register for the mint here.
IS DCG IN TROUBLE?
While all of us were on the edge of our seats watching the World Cup Final.... (damn, Messi is good)
The Milk Man was on the edge of his seat watching something just as anxiety-inducing...
Digital Currency Group (DCG)
Why? A bunch of assets related to the crypto giant were being sold off like the dickens.
And it's not just DCG that's in trouble. It's a family affair.
You can call the DCG family the Kardashians of crypto right now.And man, is it hard to keep up...
So, we're gonna whip out the family tree to help explain what's going on.
DCG = parents
Genesis = daughter
Grayscale = son
Gemini = daughter’s best friend
Bitvavo (Dutch exchange) = family friend
Here's a 30-sec rundown of the drama:
- The parents could reportedly be going bankrupt
- The parents owe the daughter $1.5b
- The parents are selling off its kid’s assets
- The daughter owes her best friend $900m (her BFF just set up a creditor committee to help get those funds back)
- The son’s products (GBTC, Filecoin trust, etc) are failing&being sold off at big discounts
- The family friendgave the parents $296m, and now the parents aren't giving it back (suspended redemptions)
I know I know, the DCG family drama makes the Kardashians look like the Brady Bunch.
We'll be keeping a close eye on how it all plays out.
QUICK BITES
Amazon drops a new series about NFTs called NFTMe. It highlights 50 creators from 4 continents & how NFT culture & disruption is happening worldwide.
Binance.US is set to acquire Voyager Digital’s assets for $1b+.
OKX withdrawals got halted due to issues with their cloud service provider. OKX says funds are safe and that the problem has been fixed.
It’s reported that Samuel Bankman-Fried will not contest extradition back to the U.S. He is expected to appear before the court today.
Riot Games has filed to end its sponsorship with FTX due to “reputational harm and damage."
MILKY MEMES
What trading in crypto feels like...
That's a wrap for today. Stay thirsty & see ya tomorrow! If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)
SAY HELLO TO PUBLIC KEY
Compliance can be the difference between your crypto company becoming a unicorn or going bankrupt.
Chainalysis created the Public Key podcast to help you understand the latest updates in crypto compliance from the top thought leaders in the space.
There’s something new in crypto every single day— laws, blockchains, and applications. Public Key makes sure you stay up to date on all of it. Listen now!
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A ROADERS REVIEW
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
Vitalik’s fan boys
— Milk Road (@MilkRoadDaily)4:13 PM • Dec 19, 2022
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.
