🥛 Gold 🤝 Blockchain
Today’s edition is brought to you by Bakkt — the responsible crypto company that provides custody, trading, and onramp solutions to help businesses grow with the crypto economy.
Empower your future with Bakkt!
GM. This is Milk Road, where the only thing to fear is missing out on today's edition.
Here’s what we’re serving up:
Say hello to tokenized gold 👀
How to take on crypto responsibly 🔒
AC Milan is tokenizing its field ⚽️
A billionaire answers why he’s still bullish on NFTs 🤔
Crypto founders get arrested 🍪
SAY HELLO TO TOKENIZED GOLD 👀
HSBC is one of the largest banks in the world. In fact, it has more total assets (~$3T) than any other European bank. #bigballer
Well, HSBC just made a big move… it’s tokenizing gold.
HSBC is tokenizing some of the physical gold held in its London vault
The physical gold will stay in the vault, but HSBC will create a digital twin using distributed ledger technology (DLT)
Institutional clients will be able to trade the assets on the HSBC Evolve platform – a new trading platform for FX and precious metals
1 token = 0.001 Troy ounces (No idea wtf that is, but Troy was a damn good movie. So I’m on board with it…)
Why this matters: Tokenized gold has quietly grown into a ~$1.1B market.
While HSBC isn’t the first bank to jump into the space… it’s the biggest.
And as more well-known names enter the space, more people will get comfortable experimenting with tokenized gold and other real-world assets (RWA’s).
It’s still early, but it’s a trend everyone should keep their eyes on.
P.S. – yesterday we asked you which topic we should dive into next, and the majority of you voted…RWA’s. (perfect timing)
Ask and you shall receive.
We’ll be diving deeper into RWA’s in a special edition next week, so keep an eye out on those inboxes!
TAKE ON CRYPTO RESPONSIBLY
Businesses that have stuck through this bear market must be in crypto for the long term.
Well, that’s where Bakkt® comes in!
Bakkt builds crypto solutions for long-term growth.
Here’s what they offer:
Bakkt® Custody: Institutional-grade solution powered by multi-layered security
Bakkt® Trade: Enable your business to activate trading to consumers through secure and regulated trading infrastructure
Bakkt® Onramps: A range of solutions making access to crypto easy, from fiat onramps to crypto rewards
And now, Bakkt is onboarding select clients within its Lightning service alpha program. If you are a payment, remittance, banking or trading business interested in leveraging their infrastructure for globally interoperable, instant, and cost-effective payments, register your interest here!
AC MILAN IS TOKENIZING ITS FIELD ⚽️
Everyone and their momma is launching a crypto project…
The problem? Not everyone is doing something interesting.
Well, yesterday I found something that was. And it just so happens to include 2 of my favorite things:
1/ NFTs
2/ Fútbol (we don’t call it “soccer” under this roof)
Check it out…AC Milan is tokenizing their field.
The Italian club partnered with NFT companies to create a digital replica of the field
The digital field has been split into 1 yd x 1 yd blocks
Fans can buy the blocks and “own” a piece of the digital field
If something happens on that block during the real game (i.e a goal, an assist, a yellow card, etc) the owner of the block gets points
More points = more rewards (i.e. signed shirts, VIP experiences, free tickets, etc.)
Here’s a quick visual:
Milk Road Take: This is pretty cool.
It isn’t the first time we’ve seen this either…the Australian Open is doing something similar by tying NFTs to plots of land on their tennis courts.
It’s been pretty successful so far:
The NFT collection has done $3.5M+ in sales volume
Some fans have been able to sell their NFTs for over a 4,000% return
It’s been a win-win for everyone.
We’ll see if AC Milan and its fans see the same success.
A BILLIONAIRE ANSWERS WHY HE’S STILL BULLISH ON NFTS 🤔
Mark Cuban is:
A billionaire
The owner of the Dallas Mavericks
A successful investor (he’s also on ‘Shark Tank’, the business TV show)
In other words, the guy is a f*cking boss.
Well, check it out, Mark was recently interviewed on WIRED. They do those interviews where they ask a famous person super random questions.
One second, it’s a question about their favorite meal….
The next second, it’s a question about whether they’d want to battle…
a) 1 gorilla-sized duck or
b) 10 duck-sized gorillas
(I’m picking A. Hit “reply” to this email and let us know what you’d pick!)
Anyways, back to Mark Cuban’s interview. He was asked about NFTs.
The question: “Everyone is losing money in NFTs, why are you still here?”
His response is pretty epic. It’s short, sweet, and only lasts about 80 seconds.
Check out the video below.
BITE-SIZED COOKIES 🍪
ArDrive brings the power of blockchain to data storage. Decentralized, immutable, private, and pay as you go. Your keys, your data.*
The SEC charged crypto firm SafeMoon, its founder, and executives for an alleged $200 million fraud. According to the SEC complaint, SafeMoon and its leaders falsely promised investors they would safely lock liquidity pool funds, but instead stole millions to fund lavish lifestyles.
PayPal successfully registered with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a crypto service provider. The status permits PayPal to engage in “certain cryptoasset activities” under the FCA’s anti-money laundering rules.
FTX’s bankruptcy estate has transferred close to $127.5 million of digital assets over the past few days. The assets include ETH, SOL, and a few other altcoins.
Adidas is teaming up with Bugatti to auction a limited number of “phygital” soccer shoes. There will be 99 physical shoes with Bugatti-themed designs, and each one will have a digital twin.
Coinbase’s crypto futures trading is now eligible to retail U.S. customers. U.S. degens 🤝 futures trading.
*This is sponsored ad content
MILKY MEMES 🤣
HIT THE INBOX OF 250K+ CRYPTO INVESTORS
Advertise with Milk Road to get your brand in front of the Who's Who of crypto. The Roaders are high-income crypto investors who are always looking for their next interesting product or tool. Get in touch today.
ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
“The ice on my wrist shine like a light…”
— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)
Nov 2, 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.
