GM. This is the Milk Road. The best crypto newsletter to start your day off with.
We give you the same feeling as waking up to the smell of bacon. Mmmm, bacon...
Here's what's on the menu today:
- Do Kwon: from hero to fugitive
- A look behind the numbers: the state of crypto
- Quick bites
- Meme of the day
DO KWON: FROM HERO TO FUGITIVE
4 months.
That’s how long it took for Do Kwon to go from hero to villain. And now he can add global fugitive to his resume.
That’s right, it looks like Do is on the run. Here’s what we know:
- South Korean authorities have been investigating the $40b implosion of Terra
- Do Kwon apparently left S. Korea to go to Singapore in April
- Last week a court issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon, but no one can find him
- Now authorities are trying to get Interpol to issue a Red Notice. This means that 195 countries would actively be searching for Do to bring him into custody.
How has Do responded? He's doing what he does best... putting his Twitter fingers to work and turning it into a joke.
Tbh havent gone running in a while, need to cut some calories
— Do Kwon 🌕 (@stablekwon)6:12 PM • Sep 17, 2022
Hmmm... not too sure tweeting while having warrants out for your arrest is the smartest move, Do.
The Milk Road Take: It looks Do Kwon is moving on from crypto and is auditioning for a role in the sequel to Catch Me If You Can.
THE STATE OF CRYPTO
There’s no sugarcoating it. We’re in the middle of a brutal bear market.
Prices are bleeding, the media is piling on the negative headlines, and your family is hitting you with the “I told you so!”
During this time we like to do 1 thing: Take a look behind some numbers to try to find some general trends.
Well, lucky for us, DuneCon just happened. And it gave us a few interesting trends to look at.
DuneCon is a conference described as “a day of wizards and the wonders of blockchain data.” It’s Hogwarts for Data Nerds.
At the conference, Tom Tunguz (VC investor at Redpoint) dropped a great presentation on the current state of crypto beyond the obvious.
Here are the top 2 takeaways:
1/ Layer 2s are growing...fast!
- Right now, L2s (like Arbitrum & Optimism) make up 30-40% of all transactions on Ethereum.
- ~$250m flows into L2s each month
So wtf is a layer 2? Let me give you a comparison to make it easy to understand.
Let’s imagine crypto is New York City. Ethereum is Main Street - it’s the most popular area to go to, but it’s congested and expensive.
So what do we do? We use the Subway train system.
This is a 2nd layer (underground) of transportation. It’s not as convenient or well-known as Main Street, but it’s cheaper and faster.
In crypto, these are called “Layer 2s”. They make it cheaper and faster to do transactions on the Ethereum network.
And it looks like the usage has blown up over the last few months going from ~0% --> ~40% of all ETH transactions.
2/ Decentralized exchanges have seen an increase in users, but a decrease in volume
- Unique buyers on DEXs have increased 5.5% over the last few quarters
- But the average transaction size has gone from $8k → $1.4k
- Trading volumes are also down ~60%, which is mostly driven by asset price reductions
So, who’s the King of DEXs? It’s Uniswap - with a dominating 66% market share. Curve is in 2nd with 12%.
If you wanna read the whole thing, you can right here.
TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ALTALOGY
Pop Quiz: What do JP Morgan’s crypto wallet and DeFi protocols like on-chain Uniswap have in common?
Answer: Altalogy helped build them.
Altalogy is a proven digital product design and engineering studio that has worked with companies that have gone on to raise millions from the top crypto VCs - like Dragonfly Capital, USV, and Paradigm.
Best part? Working with them requires less time, money, and commitment than building an in-house team.
Whether you need to:
- Level up your brand vibe by building a memorable website to manifest your values.
- Optimize your core product flow for fewer taps
- Design your app user experience to spark joy
- Build the entire product from the ground up
They’ve got you covered.
They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, but that’s just because Altalogy wasn’t around to do it. Lucky for you, it is now.
Ready to build the Rome of Crypto?Check out Altalogy here!
QUICK BITES
MicroStrategy just bought another 301 BTC for ~$6m. Can't stop, won't stop. They now hold ~130k BTC worth ~$4B.
PGA Tour signs multi-year deal with Autograph to launch an NFT platform. The best part? All the revenue will go back into the golfers pockets.
Vinyl Fish Club is launching its first NFT restaurant. It’ll be opened in Palm Beach, FL and you’ll need an NFT to get inside. P.S there are only 50 available! Talk about exclusive…
Crypto influencer, Ian Balina, is being charged by the SEC for promoting a 2018 ICO. The company behind Sparkster will pay over $30m in damages to the SEC.
MEME OF THE DAY
That's a wrap for today, see ya tomorrow!
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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.
