GM. This is the Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that takes the best ingredients from crypto and wraps it into a delicious, all-organic** burrito for you each day.
**Okay, there’s the occasional GMO (Goofy Meme Overload).
Here's what we got for you today:
- Winklevoss vs. Silbert: Round 2
- Coinbase makes more cuts
- Market Movements: Crypto’s Winners & Losers
- Are Twitter Coins coming soon?
WINKLEVOSS VS. SILBERT ROUND 2
The ongoing DCG/Gemini/Genesis/Winklevoss debacle is like an onion.
It’s got layers. And peeling back each layer brings more tears & pain to your eyes.
And two more peeled back yesterday, Shrek-style:
- A Winklevoss wrote another open letter to Barry Silbert; he’s the CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG)
- Gemini, the Winklevii’s exchange, is shutting down Earn, which let users earn yield on the crypto that they lent to the platform
As a recap, the Winklevii are fed up because:
Gemini chose Genesis as a lending partner for its Earn program → Genesis halted withdrawals in November after FTX *sound of explosion* → So Gemini had to suspend Earn & lock users out from their accounts.
Genesis could owe Gemini as much as $900m.
So ½ of the Winklevii wrote a letter to Silbert last week alleging that Genesis can’t pay Gemini back because it lent out $1.6b to DCG and Grayscale.
And here are his NEW allegations in this week’s letter:
- Genesis lost $1.2b when Three Arrows Capital (3AC,) a hedge fund, collapsed
- Silbert pretended to fill that hole by saying DCG gave funds to Genesis (didn’t give a penny)
- Instead, DCG’s bailout was an IOU so that Genesis could list it as a “current asset” valued at $1.1b 👀
Imflip
Winklevoss didn’t mince words.
“Campaign of lies,” “toxic trade,” “conspired,” and “complete gimmick” were all terms that he used.
So now what?
It wasn’t surprising that Gemini told users yesterday it was terminating its Earn program.
The poor thing has been through the RINGER since it launched 2 years ago.
Winklevoss also asked the board directly this time to kick Silbert out as CEO (he and DCG are denying all of this, btw.)
And at the end of his letter, Cameron said he hopes they find an “out-of-court solution.”
Meaning this could be getting the legal treatment if things don’t straighten out.
Winklevoss did not come to play.
TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ROOFSTOCK
Most people buy crypto to invest. They want to see their money go from $1,000 to $5,000.
They want to go from crashing at their parent’s place to buying the house at the end of the cul-de-sac.
The truth is crypto wasn’t made to get people rich. Crypto was made as an alternative to our current financial system. However, it still hasn’t touched one of the largest parts of the financial system… real estate.
Right now buying a home has more hoops to jump through than the Westminster Dog Show.
But a company that has done $5b in transactions since 2015 is changing how we buy homes.
The company is called Roofstock On-Chain and they are making it easy to buy Real Estate on the blockchain.
Roofstock says on-chain real estate makes sense if you:
- Have money in crypto and are looking for a safe place to invest it
- Want to get an on-chain mortgage using your tokenized home as collateral
- Want everything in one central place without 100 message-long email chains of documents
Learn how you can buy or sell your next home on the blockchain with Roofstock.
COINBASE MAKES MORE CUTS
The new year has not brought good news for Coinbase.
CEO Brian Armstrong said Tuesday his firm is cutting ~one fifth of its workforce.
That’s 950 people. It laid off 1,100 employees last June.
He said the layoffs are in part because of “fallout from unscrupulous actors in the industry.”
Samuel, your ears burning?
The move is a sign of a few things:
- Crypto winter is still in full swing
- Hiring likes there’s no tomorrow and growing too fast can have a downside
MARKET MOVEMENTS: CRYPTO'S WINNERS AND LOSERS
The Milk Man has 2 fears:
1/ Being stuck in the middle of the ocean
2/ Volatile crypto markets
And it’s for the same reason... both have massive waves that come out of nowhere.
Well, crypto has started 2023 with a big wave. Here’s who’s riding it and who’s crashing:
Riding the wave (prices over last 7 days):
- $GALA: +147% - Gala Games’ native token is up big after they announced they are making 2 movies with The Rock and Mark Wahlberg. The films will be on the blockchain, and $GALA will be used as the gas token. Gala also recently acquired a mobile gaming studio with 20m+ users. Big moves.
- $SOL: +28%- The Solana blockchain got a lot of buzz last week with the launch of BONK coin (a new shiba-inu themed meme coin) on it.
- $AVAX: +13%- Avalanche’s native token is up thanks to recent partnerships like powering Alibaba’s cloud infrastructure in Asia, helping Shopify merchants sell NFTs directly on online storefronts, and bringing FIDE chess records on-chain.
Surprisingly, most crypto is riding the wave to start the year. Bitcoin is up 5% and Ethereum is up 11%, too.
But of course, there have to be some losers...
Crashing the wave (prices over last 7 days):
- $HT: -7%- Huobi’s native token is down in price because of the rumors of insolvency. The crypto exchange recently cut 20% of its staff and had ~$100m in crypto leave the platform in 24h, adding salt to the wound.
- $OKB: -4%- Rumors of financial trouble for the crypto exchange OKX are hurting its native token. OKX recently released a proof-of-reserve report for their assets and people are challenging how valid the data is. There are more more flags than on NFL Sunday.
The tokens that have been struggling have mostly been due to FUD: Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. AKA the 3 things that can make prices sink like a brick in the ocean.
But overall, it’s been a strong start for crypto this year. Guess the Milk Man is upgrading from the dollar menu tonight! 🙌
COOKIES AND MILK
Jailed! The brother of a former Coinbase manger has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for alleged insider trading. Nikwil Wahi was trading crypto based on info he was getting from his big bro at Coinbase.
A first for 2023. Tap Global (a crypto trading app) has become the first 2023 listing on the UK Stock Exchange. It provides regulated bank accounts and offers crypto purchases through affiliated exchanges.
Rumor mill. Twitter is working on Twitter Coins - an internal token for tipping creators. Jane Wong is a tech expert that releases a lot of leaks for future features being launched by big co’s, like Twitter. She says the Twitter Coins are next.
New NFTs on the block[chain]. The Freedom of the Press Foundation, Edward Snowden, and Daniel Ellsberg are collaborating on a new NFT with proceeds going towards funding operating costs for the Foundation. The NFTs feature an interview with the whistleblowers and have the Pentagon Papers from 1971 embedded in them.
MILKY MEME
🤣🤣
That's a wrap for today. Stay thirsty & see ya tomorrow! If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)
INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING ON THE MILK ROAD?
Fill out this survey and we'll get back to you soon!
What'd you think of today's edition?
Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.
A ROADERS REVIEW
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
Happy National Milk Day
— Milk Road (@MilkRoadDaily)2:19 PM • Jan 11, 2023
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.
