GM. This is the Milk Road. We're the best part of any crypto investor's morning.
Unless you eat Recess Puffs cereal... that would technically be the best part of your morning. But hey, we'll take 2nd.
Here's what we got on the menu today:
- The Merge is done. Was it a success?
- Is FTX looking to make more acquisitions?
- Coinbase drops a new feature
- Meme of the day
THE MERGE IS DONE. WAS IT A SUCCESS?
They said it couldn't be done. But it happened...
The Merge has been completed. And it worked! Congrats, we all just lost our merginity.
To be honest with you it all felt a bit anti-climactic. I wasn’t sure what to expect though... fireworks? a New Merge kiss? The reality is this was me watching the merge last night:
But just because it didn’t feel big, doesn’t mean it wasn’t. Let's look at the facts:
- The network is now using over 99% less energy
- ETHs supply has become deflationary - there is ~190 less ETH in supply since the Merge (this is because there is more ETH being burned than new ETH entering into circulation)
- Block times (aka how long it takes to complete a transaction) have become a lot more stable & consistent since the Merge
The biggest difference?
"The merge will reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2%" - @drakefjustin
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin)6:30 AM • Sep 15, 2022
This is pretty crazy. 0.2% might not sound like a lot, but that's equivalent to getting rid of the energy consumption of countries like Chile, overnight.
Unfortunately, the markets aren't reacting to the Merge as some people expected... ETH is down ~7% since the big event.
This could be because it was a "buy the rumor, sell the news" event and people tried to make quick profits and are panicking now that the price didn't go up like they thought...
But hey, we aren't worried about it all. We're here for the long haul and this was a major upgrade for Ethereum.
Congrats to our Father of Chains, Vitalik, and the rest of the Ethereum developers that have been working hard over the last years to make it all happen. It was as smooth as the butter on my toast this morning.
TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY DELTA
Crypto investing is hard. It's even harder when you're looking at 10+ charts and spreadsheets to keep track of your investments and how they perform.
That's why we use Delta.App to track everything happening with the Milk Road Public Wallet (where we hold ETH and a Punk right now)...even when it's in the red.
Delta's tracking app lets us manage and track our live performance, all in one place so we can focus on other things.
You can try it right now and never lose track of your portfolio again!
IS FTX LOOKING TO RAISE MONEY FOR MORE ACQUISITIONS?
FTX is only 3 years old, but it’s already a giant in the crypto world.
- Raised $400m in January at a $32b valuation
- Revenue grew from $90m --> $1.2b last year (~1000% increase)
- Purchased Canadian exchange Bitvo that has $1b assets under management
Now it’s rumored that FTX is looking to raise more money.
Why? Acquisitions. Mo money = mo acquisitions.
It's reported that FTX might have its eyes set on acquiring retail-trading platforms to help attract more retail investors in the US market.
Right now, only ~5% of their revenues come from the US market. And they only have ~220k active users in the U.S. (That's peanuts compared to Coinbase’s 9m U.S users)
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out and if FTX is able to break some ground on the retail front of their business. They have a long way to go to catch up with Coinbase, but I wouldn't bet against FTX and the Crypto Fro.
COINBASE DROPS A NEW FEATURE THAT LETS YOU SEE WHICH POLITICIANS ARE CRYPTO-FRIENDLY
Coinbase just dropped a new feature. Users can now see how their local politicians feel about crypto. Are they a lover or a hater?
1/ Starting today, Coinbase will begin integrating our crypto policy efforts right into our app. These will help our 103M verified users get educated on the crypto positions held by political leaders where they live.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong)7:31 PM • Sep 14, 2022
They have 2 reasons to do this:
- Making it easy for users to see which politicians support crypto
- Making it easy for you to donate to support the crypto-friendly politicians gives Coinbase some power/leverage when they talk to politicians. *cue the villain music* Wouldn’t it be a shame if we told 50 million Americans that you might hurt their crypto positions…
This isn’t the only way Coinbase is getting frisky with the gov't either - they're also funding the lawsuit of 6 private individuals against the U.S Treasury for the Tornado Cash sanctions.
Props to CB. They get our GOLD STAR this week.
MEME OF THE DAY
That's a wrap for today, see ya tomorrow!
If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)
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A ROADERS REVIEW
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
Post-Merge Vitalik
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.
