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GM. This is Milk Road – the newsletter that reveals the sneaky tactics used by scammers, so you don’t get rekt!
Here’s what we got for you today:
- ✍️ How to not get scammed
- ✍️ Another day, another new record for the crypto ETFs
- 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: Which Tokens Are the Biggest Winners from a Pro-Crypto President w/ Kyle Reidhead
- 🍪 Coinbase launches COIN50 index
Prices as of 2:00PM ET. Click here for our Fear & Greed Index
HOW TO NOT GET SCAMMED 🚨
Can you spot the difference between these two links within 10 seconds?
3…2…1…times up!
If you were able to notice that one link has a "1" where a lower case "L" should have been – then kudos to you!
If not, you're a prime target for phishing attacks that could drain your wallet.
And right now, we're entering scam season. 🚨
The higher the crypto market grows → the more new users enter the space → the richer everyone becomes → the more potential targets there are for scammers.
And fake links cosplaying as trusted sites is just the start of it!
Here are four attack vectors to look out for as you explore the crypto space…
1/ Scammers launching fake tokens around trusted crypto brands
We announced this when it first happened, but just in case you missed it:
Someone recently began imitating us, promoting a fake $MILK token. If you received this – DO NOT BUY THE TOKEN OR CLICK ANY LINKS FROM THIS SENDER.
We will only ever contact you from emails ending in “milkroad.com” (e.g. [email protected] or [email protected]).
How to protect yourself:
- Check the sender address to make sure it matches the brand’s domain
- Check the brand’s social accounts – if it's a big announcement, but is only being promoted via one of their distribution channels, someone may be imitating them
- Reach out to the brand directly to confirm (many of you did exactly that and we salute you! 🫡)
2/ Address poisoning
Scammers will create a wallet address that looks very similar to your own, for example:
Your address: 0x068839Ba9dABb108C1b1017C4204B7622B919Db9
Their fake address: 0x068847d4E6244560404D37c80c42eF2F70959Db9
(They start and end with the same numbers/letters, but they are different).
The scammers will then send multiple small transactions to your wallet…
With the hope that the next time you go to send yourself crypto from one of your other wallets, you copy/paste the address from your transaction history.
(Accidentally copying their address instead of your own).
How to protect yourself:
- Don’t copy addresses from your transaction history
- Always double-check the addresses you're sending funds to
- Use a wallet that supports whitelisting or bookmarks
3/ Fake web app links
It’s not just crypto related links that are used to fool users, major web2 companies are being mimicked in order to drain users’ funds..
By clicking this link it allowed scammers to install fake versions of MetaMask on the users computer, access their secret recovery phrase, and execute malicious transactions.
Something similar once happened to our General Manager, Tyler (aka Old Man River):
“Somehow my MetaMask got compromised and I was prompted to enter my security phrase (in the extension) for security reasons and I did (this was pretty early on for me). Wallet was drained.”
How to not be Tyler (i.e. protect yourself):
- Use a vetted google plugin to alert you of potential malicious links
- Do not keep a large amount of crypto on wallets that are permanently connected to the internet
4/ Fake customer service reps
Fake customer service reps either reach out to you out of nowhere, or create fake websites that imitate a product/brand and trick you into thinking you’re talking to a real representative when you file a contact request.
(Similar scams can also be executed by imitating well known figures/influencers in the space).
How to protect yourself:
- Ignore (or heavily vet) random DMs/emails from people claiming to represent a company and/or trusted figure
- Check the domain name against the domains listed across the companies social accounts to see if it matches the link you’re thinking of clicking
- Never (NEVER) give out your recovery phrase. There is no situation in which a company or person will ever need it (other than to drain your wallet).
Outside of that, here are some every day practices that will help protect against a wide range of scams:
- Do not keep your recovery phrases stored digitally, make multiple dummy copies of your seed phrase, and obscure your real seed phrase in a way that only you know how to solve (e.g. leave the last word of the seed phrase out, switch some of them around).
- Keep your funds spread across multiple cold wallets (e.g. Ledger and Trezor wallets). These kinds of wallets are not connected to the internet at all times, which makes them much harder to hack.
- If you have large crypto holdings, consider keeping your hardware wallets spread across multiple secure locations (e.g. safety deposit boxes). This way, in-person attacks become much harder to execute.
And remember: if it seems too good, it’s probably a scam.
Stay SAFU out there folks! And before you move on to the next story, we wanna know 👇️
Have you lost money to crypto scams?
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ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER NEW RECORD FOR THE CRYPTO ETFS 🥇
An analogy?
You want an analogy?
Eric Balchunas, the senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg couldn’t think of one that accurately measures the weight of what is happening here – so we’re going to sit this one out…
What’re we on about? This:
A single Bitcoin ETF (BlackRock’s $IBIT) just entered the top 1% of all ETFs by assets held ($40B), just 10 months after its launch.
Which led to this conundrum 👇
And it’s not just Bitcoin that’s kicking goals in the ETF space – Ethereum is making a comeback from a less than ideal launch!
The net cumulative flows going into the $ETH ETFs has rebounded from -$687M in late September, to +$107M as of yesterday!
That’s a move of +$794M in less than two months!
The best part? This is likely just the beginning.
As we continue through the Euphoria Phase (Phase 3) of the market cycle, and into the Disconnection Phase (Phase 4) – things are only set to get crazier.
All that’s left to say is…
Welcome to the Banana Zone!
TOP TOKENS SET TO SOAR WITH A PRO-CRYPTO PRESIDENT 📊
It’s been – what – a week since Trump won the election?
And the market is already going bat sh*t crazy!
But if this is just the beginning – where is everything going to end up?
We brought our Head of Research, Kyle Reidhead, on to today’s episode of The Milk Road Show to help us find answers.
In this episode, we cover:
- What does a Trump presidency mean for crypto?
- Will coins previously targeted by the SEC continue to thrive?
- A look back at what the crypto industry has fought through over the past 4 years
Click below to watch it now! 👇
YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
The Block is hosting its first-ever conference, Emergence, this December in Prague. Extravagant, eh? We love a new conference vibe, so here’s a treat: use code “Emergence20” to get 20% off your ticket!*
October CPI rises to 2.6%, in line with expectations. With no major shocks in this announcement, we’re in line for 25bps rate cute in December. Lesssgooo. BUIDL, Blackrock’s first tokenized product, is now going multi-chain. Previously only available on Ethereum, BUIDL launches on 5 new networks. Blackrock continuing to do Blackrock things.
Trump appointed Elon and Vivek to lead a newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency”. For those who don’t get it, look at its initials - DOGE. Now, go look at $DOGE’s price. Bonkers.
Coinbase launches COIN50 index. This index represents the top 50 digital assets like $BTC, $ETH, $SOL and bunch of memecoins. The only downside? It isn’t available in the US, UK or Canada.
Milk Road's Solana Price page is an easy way to track the price of $SOL and follow real-time updates. Bookmark this page and let Milk Road keep you dialed into everything $SOL, all day, every day. *this is partner content
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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.
