🥛 4 BIG protocol updates to know 🧐
Today’s edition is brought to you by Dimension X – a free-to-play game on Flow blockchain that will be launching on ETH on August 8th! Join their allowlist raffle for an upcoming FREE drop!
GM. This is Milk Road, your personal crypto chauffeur. We'll steer you away from market roadblocks and navigate you towards success.
Here’s what we got today:
4 big protocol updates coming your way 💪
~30% of BTC’s supply hasn’t moved in 5 years 🪙
XRP trading volume surpassed BTC trading volume 🍪
Prices as of 9 AM ET.
4 BIG PROTOCOL UPDATES YOU NEED TO KNOW 💪
Yesterday felt like science fair in middle school (OG ones did that potato electricity project back in the day.)
Except this time, it’s all about crypto. And the software updates and new protocols they launched.
Here are 4 that we’re watching closely…
1/ Uniswap launched a new trading protocol
Uniswap is a popular decentralized exchange with ~$3.8B in total value locked (TVL).
It just launched a new trading protocol – UniswapX. Here’s everything you need to know:
It aggregates a bunch of liquidity sources (like automated market makers) and lets third-party “fillers” compete to execute trades.
You can swap without having to pay gas fees (they’re already folded into each transaction.) That means you don’t need a network’s native token (like ETH) to make a trade.
It protects you against MEV bots.
You have to opt into it on Uniswap’s main platform.
So what? DEX trading isn’t perfect. Liquidity can dry up quicker than the Sahara, which makes it harder for users’ trades to be processed.
UniswapX is looking to change that.
More liquidity = easier/cheaper trades.
2/ Chainlink rolled out a new cross-chain protocol
Chainlink is a blockchain oracle network.
And it just launched what’s called a Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP.)
Blockchains do a lot of things. But they don’t have a way to talk to each other.
This could help big time with that. It wants to connect all blockchains and banks.
Chainlink teamed up with SWIFT for it – that’s the network big banks use to make international money transfers. Crypto 🤝 TradFi.
Only some users on 5 testnets (including Avalanche & Ethereum) are trying it out now. But it’ll eventually hit that sweet, sweet mainnet, where everyone can use it.
3/ Aave rolled out updates to Lens
Lens Protocol is a decentralized social media app.
Here’s what’s new on it:
When you do something on-chain, that activity can be instantly shared on social media, like via a newly minted NFT to mark the occasion.
Allow you to block other users. Shade, but make it blockchain.
Makes it easier to move content across Lens apps and monetize off of it. #SideHustle
Lets you have multiple handles for each profile.
Lens over here trying to recruit the creators.
4/ Polygon’s big-deal upgrade is coming sometime this month
Polygon is an Ethereum-based layer-2 blockchain (it processes transactions off the main chain so the network doesn’t get clogged.)
Well, say hello to Polygon 2.0.
It’ll:
Make it easier to create new chains within the Polygon network and use zero-knowledge proofs to process transactions. That makes everything cheaper & faster.
Launch a bridge so users won’t need to deal with wrapped tokens anymore. (Like when you use WBTC if you’re trying to deploy Bitcoin off its native blockchain.)
One giant step toward multichain scalability.
GET READY TO DROP INTO DIMENSION X
Web3 gaming has a serious problem: Most of the games simply aren’t fun.
With most Web3 games, once a user stops earning, they stop playing. And to even get started playing, you often need to buy an NFT.
Well, the Milk Man is delivering some good news to Roaders today: The landscape is changing.
Introducing Dimension X:
It’s free to play, and actually fun 🎮
They already have a proven track record on Flow Blockchain ✅
You can compete with other players and mint new heroes 🦸
The best part? They are kicking off their ETH launch with a free drop of 10,000 NFTs to be used in the game. And the allowlist raffle just kicked off yesterday.
Watch the hype build for their upcoming free drop and game release on August 8th!
ALMOST A THIRD OF BTC’S SUPPLY HASN’T MOVED IN 5+ YEARS 🪙
I got a crazy stat for you…
29.1% of BTC’s supply hasn’t moved in over 5 years. (!!)
The crazier part? In that time, BTC’s price dropped more than 50% – five separate times.
It’s also pretty interesting to see other timeframes:
69.1% of BTC’s supply hasn’t moved in 1+ years
55.7% of BTC’s supply hasn’t moved in 2+ years
40.1% of BTC’s supply hasn’t moved in 3+ years
Bitcoiners either have strong Diamond Hands, or…
They have Butter Fingers, lost the private keys, and can’t access the BTC. (A moment of silence for them.)
MILK & COOKIES 🍪
Phemex just opened early access airdrops to everyone. Users can cash in for trading on the platform, with 10% of their upcoming token’s supply being airdropped to active traders.*
XRP trading volume surpassed BTC trading volume. XRP trades now make up ~21% of the total crypto trading volume.
National Australia Bank (NAB) is blocking payments to “high-risk” crypto platforms. That nows… checks notes… three of the “Big Four” banks in Australia that have blocked crypto payments.
Patrick Mahomes launched a new NFT marketplace, called Museum of Mahomes. Some of the NFTs will be tied to perks like game-worn items, physical trading cards, autographed jerseys, etc.
Gnosis launched a new, self-custody Visa debit card. It lets users spend crypto in their self-custody wallet at any store that accepts Visa.
*This is sponsored content
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Jul 18, 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.
