January 12, 2023

🥛 People hate the Game of Thrones NFTs

GM. This is the Milk Road. We’re the Rosetta Stone of crypto. We teach you the lingo so you can speak crypto like a natural.

Here’s what we got for ya today:

  • GoT NFTs & their wonky fingers

  • Brazil ♥️ stablecoins

  • FTX has recovered billions of dollars in assets

  • Twitter usernames going on sale soon? 👀

GAME OF THRONES NFTS JUST DROPPED

You know those 2008 Guinness World Record photos?

Of the woman with the long curled fingernails?

It’s hard to unsee that in the new Game of Thrones NFT collection.

  • Warner Bros. + Nifty (NFT platform) + Daz 3D (firm that designed the NFTs) launched a collection Wednesday based on the show

  • They’re random avatars in GoT-looking attire, story cards, resource cards, & “Hero Boxes” comprised of one of each

  • Twitter users are cracking up because the designs are awful

Mock all you want, but this collection got the Trump NFT effect:

The first drop sold out in 7 hours, despite the NFTs’ ridiculous look.

Ain’t nothin like that GoT fanbase.

Nifty even had to post on Twitter that it paused its sale for a sec because so many people were wanting to buy.

Some users complained of hours-long delays in getting their NFT

…by which time, the floor price (lowest price of an NFT) plummeted, despite paying a premium.

The second drop is coming to OpenSea soon; one of those “Hero Boxes” is listed for ~$183m at the moment. Others for $13,000, and $93 on the low end.

A reminder that Trump’s NFTs were selling for $99, spiked to ~$1,000 in value, and then sunk back down to ~$242.

So…if you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.

TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY FUTURE

I can never find an open machine in the gym in January.

Everyone is motivated by their New Year's resolutions to finally lose the 15 lbs they’ve been putting off for years.

But by March the gym is empty.

Why?

It’s hard to stay consistent. You get sick and tired of the same workout routine. And most importantly you don’t have anyone to hold you accountable.

This is why Future exists. Future provides 1:1 digital fitness coaching & custom workout programs. With Future you get:

  • Access to world-class fitness coaches. You get a coach for your specific needs & goals

  • Personalized daily coaching & custom workouts designed for your body. Whether you work out at the gym, outside, or at home, your coach will adjust your plan to wherever you are that day or week.

  • Daily contact with the experts. Your coach will track all your progress & check in with you every single day to make sure you’re on track to reach your goals.

And guess what? Milk Road readers get their 1st month for free.

BRAZIL IS LOVIN' STABLECOINS

If you think U.S. inflation is bad, it has nothing on Brazil.

It’s a nation facing political turmoil & economic volatility.

Which crypto, in theory, could help citizens hedge against.

So it makes sense that stablecoin activity spiked BIG time in 2022.

  • Stablecoin trading grew by 85% last year, the CEO of Bitso (crypto exchange) said

  • More than $14b was moved via USDT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, in August 2022

  • And USDT orders grew 3x from 877.5m in October to 2.381b in December

Exhibit A, ladies & gents, for why LatAm is the poster child market for crypto adoption.

NEW FTX TEAM RECOVERS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF ASSETS

The FTX fiasco is a lot like the Energizer Bunny… just when you think the story’s over, it just keeps going & going & going.

Yesterday, the bankrupt crypto company made the headlines again. But don’t worry. This time, it was ✨good✨ news.

1/ FTX’s restructuring team has recovered billions of dollars in assets

  • $5b+ in assets (cash, liquid tokens, stocks, etc.) has been recovered, according to FTX’s attorneys

  • Dozens of illiquid assets were also recovered, but attorneys say they can’t sell those assets because their supply is so large it would tank the market for those tokens

  • It's still unclear how much is actually owed to FTXs’ 9m customers and how much more will actually be recovered

So what? If true, this is a big step towards getting customers refunded. More money recovered = more money back to creditors.

But some people are questioning how much the FTX team actually recouped. A month ago, the FTX team estimated they’d only be able to recover ~$1b. Now they claim they’ve suddenly found 5x that. (I guess they looked in between the sofa cushions.)

The Neighborhood Blockchain Watch says they’ve gone through every single public crypto wallet linked to FTX & Alameda Research and the numbers don’t add up to $5b. (FTX’s attorneys apparently forgot about Milk Road Rule #47: Never do math in public.)

2/ The bankruptcy judge rules whether or not to keep FTX’s customers’ info private

The decision is in …*gavel hits table*…THE INFO WILL REMAIN SEALED.

The judge added that he’d revisit the decision in 3 months, but for now, FTX customers’ info will remain private.

So what? FTX users have already been victims of deception & theft; the last thing they’d want is their private info (name, wallet balance, etc.) being aired out like dirty laundry.

So for now, FTX creditors get to avoid bankruptcy's version of the Walk of Shame.

COOKIES AND MILK

Tag-team of the day: AWS partners up with Avalanche blockchain to scale blockchain solutions for governments & enterprises.

Rumor mill: Twitter is considering selling user names as additional revenue.

New Web3 fund: Iceberg Capital and Venom Foundation have partnered up to launch a new $1b fund focused on investing in Web3 companies.

Investigation watch: The Department of Justice is probing the Saber Labs founders and their roles in certain De-Fi and stablecoin projects. It’s rumored that the founders created a web of 11 pseudonymous identities to build an ecosystem of financial products around Saber.

MILKY MEME

🤣🤣

That's a wrap for today. Stay thirsty & see ya tomorrow! If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)

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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.