๐ฅ Crypto’s BIG week ahead… ๐
Todayโs edition is brought to you by Consensus โ join the community of developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers, and more who are taking crypto from the margins to the mainstream at the 10th annual Consensus, May 29 – 31 in Austin, Texas.
Use code MILKROAD for 20% off.
GM. This is Milk Road. Weโre like your morning coffee – essential, energizing, and slightly addictive. (And we promise not to stain your shirt).
Hereโs what weโre serving up today:
4 things to watch this week ๐
Graph of the Day: $2.7B in weekly inflows ๐
โDogWifHatโ is headed to Las Vegas ๐๏ธ
Wall Street wants to โtokenize every financial assetโ ๐ช
4 THINGS TO WATCH THIS WEEK
The recent crypto rally reminds me a lot of a game we played as kids…ย
It didnโt have an official name, so we just called it the โHold-The-Ball-Underwater-As-Long-As-You-Canโ game โข.
If youโve ever played, you know that eventuallyโฆ the ball explodes up!
Right now, crypto prices are flying like that ball.ย
BTC hit $72K for the first time ever.
ETH is sitting comfy above $4K for the first time in 2+ years.ย
Now the big question on everyoneโs minds isโฆ will the momentum continue?
Who knows. But there are a handful of big events this week that could make or break the rally.
1/ The Dencun upgrade
Ethereumโs next big network upgrade is scheduled for March 13th. (T-2 days!)
The upgrade will significantly reduce gas fees for Ethereumโs Layer 2 rollups โ like Optimism, Abritrum, Polygon, etc.ย
2/ Token unlocks
A whopping $2.7B worth of tokens are set to be unlocked this week.ย
This includes $2.29B in ARB tokens, $327M in APT tokens, $36M in APE tokens, and more.ย (Check out the full list here).
3/ U.S. macro data
A ton of crucial inflation data (i.e. February CPI data, retail sales data, jobs data, etc.) are being released.
This data could set the tone for the March Fed meeting next week.ย
4/ Magic Edenโs โETH OG Diamondโ claim
The NFT marketplace is dropping โDiamondsโ for ETH NFT traders on March 13.ย
If youโve traded any ETH NFTs since 2017, brush off the dust on those wallets because you might qualify for rewards in a few days.
Buckle up, Roaders. Weโve got a big week ahead!
CONSENSUS 2024 IS LESS THAN THREE MONTHS AWAY!
Itโs comingโฆ
This yearโs Consensus marks 10 years as the biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain, and Web3.ย
The 2024 Consensus agenda was just released and it's packed with insightful discussions, hands-on workshops, exciting activations, and next-gen tech explorations.
Hereโs the TLDR:
170+ speakers with more added every day.ย
Check out โBitcoin: We Are So Backโ for insight into this bull market, how it differs from previous run-ups, and the macro investment thesis for Bitcoin and crypto broadly.
Presentations and analysis from 20+ blockchain protocols, including ETH & BTC Day and Deep Dive Workshops from XRPL, Solana, Avalanche, and more.ย
Emerging tech exploration, including The Future of Virtual Societies, With 'Bored Elon Musk' and โHow to (Ethically) Build Human AI.โ
Day-long summits dedicated to policy and regulation, the potential impact of digital assets on culture and business, what's next in on-chain innovation, and more.
The list goes onโฆ
Consensus is cryptoโs biggest, longest-running, and most influential event.
View the Consensus 2024 Agenda here, oh andโฆ
Click here to get a 20% discount right now using code MILKROAD!ย
Donโt wait! This deal expires and prices will increase on Thursday, March 14 at 4 p.m. ET.
GRAPH OF THE DAY: $2.7B IN WEEKLY INFLOWS
Crypto investment products have been on fire latelyโฆ
4 weeks ago, they hit $2.45B in inflows. A weekly record at the time.
Last week, they hit $2.7B in inflows. A new weekly record.
Thatโs 2 broken records in 4 weeks. (*woogity woogity woogity*)
Hereโs everything else you need to know from the latest report:
Year-to-date inflows now total $10.3B. Itโs just shy of the yearly record ($10.6B) set in 2021โฆ and weโre not even 25% through the year!
BTC led the way with 99% of inflows. You come at the King, you best not miss.
SOL broke its streak of outflows. After 3 straight weeks of sell-offs, SOL finally saw some inflows.ย
ETH saw a minor sell-off ($2.1M).ย It was the only cryptocurrency that witnessed outflows last week.ย
Milk Road Take: Weโve been tracking these weekly flows for ~2 years now and weโve never seen numbers like this before.
Itโs crazy.ย
Just to give you an idea of how crazy, letโs compare last year vs. now.
LAST YEARโฆ
Weekly inflows never hit $500M. Not even once! (In fact, the scale on the graph used to only go up to $400M).
Flows would flip weekly. One week, there were inflows. The next week, there were outflowsโฆย
It was like when your shower all of a sudden goes ice cold because someone turned on the dishwasher.
NOWโฆย
$500M in weekly flows is the new โnormโ. 7 out of 10 weeks this year have seen at least half a billion in total inflows.ย
Inflows are a lot more consistent. There have only been 2 weeks of outflows this year.
Weโll see if crypto can continue its red-hot streak this week.
DOGWIFHAT IS HEADED TO VEGAS
Thereโs a new money maker in Las Vegasโฆ
Itโs curvy, seductive, and tech nerds are throwing millions of dollars its wayโฆย
(Nope. Itโs not a stripper!)
Say hello toโฆ the Las Vegas Sphere.ย
Itโs a music and entertainment arena thatโs shaped like a big ass sphere.ย It measures in at 366 ft. tall and 516 ft. wide. #thicc
Events can be held inside the Sphere. The arena can hold ~20,000 people and has 160,000+ speakers for immersive audio experiences.ย
Brands can advertise on the outside of the Sphere. Btw, this can cost anywhere between $450K per day โ $650K for a week of ads.ย
Some of the biggest names in the game (like Microsoft, Sony, Google, etc.) have used it to advertise their products.ย
Nowโฆ one of the most popular crypto projects, DogWifHat ($WIF), is trying to raise $650,000 to get a spot on the Sphere.ย
As of this writing, $WIF has raised $305,227. (47% of the way there!)
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD ๐ช
The OG wallet, ๏ปฟ๏ปฟExodus, offers an accessible way to onramp, store, and swap your crypto across multiple blockchains. Its wallet is available via desktop, mobile, and browser extension apps, and you can read more about its growing list of services in our review!
Larry Fink bets Bitcoin ETFs are just the beginning as Wall Street eyes a $10T โtokenization playโ. The goal? โThe tokenization of every financial assetโ. โDL News
Bitcoinโs transaction volume has skyrocketed over the last week. It just hit its highest level in 18 months.ย
Coinbase surpassed its initial direct listing price ($250) for the first time in 2+ years. The crypto exchange still has a ways to go before it nears a new all-time high ($342).
Wyoming passed a law giving DAOs a nonprofit legal framework. This provides a framework for DAOs of at least 100 members to become unincorporated nonprofit associations. It will go into effect July 1, 2024.ย
Grayscale and Coinbase met with the SEC to talk about ETH ETFs. Grayscale is in the process of converting its Ethereum Trust into an ETF.
DC Comics is teaming up with Candy Digital to launch a new Batman NFT collection. There will be 11,544 Batman-themed NFTs, celebrating the iconic superhero's 85th anniversary.ย
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POV: How blurry your eyesight gets after staring at 13323 graphs in the span 4 minutes.
— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)
Mar 11, 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.
