🥛 3 big things to watch this week 👀
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GM. This is Milk Road, the daily newsletter that’s as refreshing as that first sip of water in the morning.
Here’s what we got for you today:
3 big things to keep your eyes on this week 👀
Graph of the Day: Crypto just broke another record! 📊
Crypto’s getting a new debit card 🍪
3 THINGS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON THIS WEEK 👀
I was sitting on the train this morning when I noticed something strange…
Everyone had their heads bowed down, eyes glued to their phones, and… they were crying!
But these weren’t your normal “Damn, it’s Monday again” tears.
These were tears of happiness. Like when you find extra fries at the bottom of the bag.
I peeked over the-girl-sitting-next-to-me’s shoulder to see what was going on. Then, I saw it…
That’s right, BTC jumped back above $71K and ETH moonwalked its way past $3,600 this morning!
It’s only Monday, but we’re off to a hot start. And we’ve got another busy week ahead.
Here are the “make-or-break” events you should keep your eyes on:
1/ Token unlocks
9 crypto projects will be unlocking a total of $497M throughout the week.
24.8M $APT tokens (worth $330M) will be unlocked on April 12.
64M $STRK tokens (worth $125M) will be unlocked on April 14.
886K $CYBER tokens (worth $12M) will be unlocked on April 14.
P.S. – if you’re curious how unlocks affect prices, we got you covered here.
2/ Airdrops
There are two big airdrops to keep your eyes on this week:
Tensor: The NFT marketplace officially launched its new token ($TNSR) this morning. It will also be listed on major exchanges, like Coinbase, starting today.
Kamino: The lending platform’s new token ($KMNO) isn’t live yet, but the ‘airdrop-checker’ opened up last week and many are anticipating it could launch soon.
3/ U.S. Economic data
A handful of key data is being released this week:
The big thing we’ll be tracking is March’s CPI data.
CPI measures inflation and the average change in prices for everyday things like housing, clothes, food, services*, etc.
Why this matters: CPI data drives interest rate policy, which drives market prices up and down.
*Side note: Shoutout to my mechanic, Rico, who’s been changing my oil for the same price (a 30-pack of beer) since ‘08.
To summarize… $500M in token unlocks + two big airdrops + key macro data = a recipe for volatility.
Buckle up, things could get wild this week.
A FULLY LOADED CONSENSUS
This year’s Consensus is fully loaded with more than just sessions and speakers.
The EasyA Consensus Hackathon is a three-day, multi-chain hackathon attracting the best Web3 developers.
CoinDesk PitchFest, presented by Google Cloud, showcases the world's most promising early-stage Web3 companies in a live pitching battle.
And don’t miss Karate Combat, the first token-backed, full-contact sports league featuring an epic battle between ETH (David Hoffman) and BTC (Nic Carter).
Plus, there are hundreds of side events, meetups, networking dinners, and more.
Mark your calendar for May 29-31 in Austin, Texas. Prices increase on Thursday, April 11 and don't forget your promo code!
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GRAPH OF THE DAY: CRYPTO JUST BROKE ANOTHER RECORD 📊
2021 was a historic year for digital asset investment products… they ended up getting $10.6B in total inflows.
Fast forward to this year… digital asset investment products have seen $13.8B in total inflows.
The highest yearly total, ever. (and it’s only April)
According to CoinShares’ latest report:
Digital asset investment products saw $646M in net inflows last week. That’s back-to-back weeks of $500M+ in inflows.
BTC led the way (again) with $663M in inflows. Short-Bitcoin investment products (i.e. people betting against BTC) also saw outflows for the third straight week.
ETH saw outflows for the 4th straight week. Looks like the Dencun upgrade may have been a ‘sell-the-news’ event, as ETH has only seen outflows since then.
Most other altcoins saw inflows. Solana (+$4M), Litecoin (+$4.4M), and Filecoin (+$1.4M) all had positive weeks.
At this rate, digital asset investment funds could 2-3x their previous yearly record!
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
RARI Chain, the Arbitrum-powered creator-centric chain powering the next generation of NFT use cases, is launching the season of $RARI Rewards. Join RARI Chain’s latest NFT drops on Rarible marketplace to be eligible to claim $RARI.*
1inch is teaming up with Mastercard to launch a new debit card. The 1inch Card will allow users to use their crypto for online and in-person purchases, and make cash withdrawals at supported ATMs.
Coinbase and MicroStrategy stocks are rallying this morning. $COIN is up 8% and $MSTR is up 7% so far on the day.
FTX’s bankruptcy estate sold ~$2B worth of its staked SOL. About 30M SOL (worth $1.9B) was sold off to firms like Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital, and Neptune Digital.
TON Society is launching a new initiative that pays people to scan their palms for ‘proof of personhood’. Beyond the incentives, the idea is to create a new tool for combatting on-chain bots while offering users control over their online identity.
Pantera Capital’s crypto fund posted a 66% gain last quarter. SOL and other smaller-cap tokens like Stacks, Aevo, and Ribbon Finance led the gains.
Do Kwon and Terraform Labs have been found liable for defrauding investors. The SEC accused the defendants of misleading investors about the stability of the algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD (UST) and the use cases for the Terra blockchain.
*This is sponsored content
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VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
Checking ETH’s price this morning… 👍👍
— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)
Apr 8, 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.
