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GM. This is Milk Road, where we trim the fat from the crypto news – leaving you with lean, prime cuts of information.

Here’s what we’re serving up today:

• The 5 best-performing tokens of the week 🤑

• Uh-oh… BTC ETF inflows are slowing down 🧐

• Is it comeback season for crypto funding? 📊

• We’re hiring a finance analyst/writer 🔥

• The Milk Road Poll results are in… 👀

• Say hello to the new ‘Meme Coin Rush’ 🍪

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3 QUICK HITTERS ⚡️

Light news day, so I won’t waste your time. Let’s do some quick hitters!

1/ This week’s Mt. Rushmore of Cryptocurrencies.

Here are the 5 best-performing tokens of the week:

Here are a few reasons why these tokens pumped this week…

• Fantom ($FTM): The highly-anticipated ‘Sonic’ upgrade is expected to happen soon. It will make transactions faster and make it easier for developers to migrate over to the blockchain using its new Fantom Virtual Machine (FVM).

• Aptos ($APT): The blockchain has seen an increase in daily active users (+400% over the last month) and recently announced a big partnership with Google Cloud to help creators launch web3 games with crypto and NFTs. 

• Stacks ($STX): Token holders voted for, and approved, a major network upgrade earlier this week. The ‘Nakamoto’ upgrade will go live in a few days and is expected to increase network security and make transactions faster. 

• Toncoin ($TON): The TON Foundation launched a new ‘community rewards initiative’ and will distribute 30M tokens (worth $115M) to users and projects in the TON ecosystem. 

• Kaspa ($KAS): Trading volume has increased by 50% over the last week. 

We’ll see which tokens can keep their momentum up.

2/ Bitcoin ETF net inflows are slowing down.

In fact, there hasn’t been a single day of inflows this week…

Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. 

4 straight days of outflows!

Why this matters: The BTC ETFs have been a big catalyst for the recent crypto rally. 

Since January 11th (the day they launched)…

• BTC ETFs have seen a net inflow of $11.3B.

• BTC’s price has jumped from $42,700 → $62,700 (+46.8%)

But the question on everyone’s minds has been… what happens when the music stops and the ETF flows slow down?

Well, it looks like we have our answer… 

BTC ETFs = 4 straight days of outflows —> BTC = down 8% on the week. 

3/ Venture funding is making a comeback…

Don’t call it a comeback, but VC investments into crypto companies have increased each month this year…

Here are some of the companies who secured the bag (💰) this week… 

Keyring raised $6M to help institutional investors interact with DeFi platforms, in a compliant way. The crypto compliance platform uses zero-knowledge (ZK) proof technology to protect sensitive data and user privacy. 

Ooga Booga raised $1M to build a decentralized exchange aggregator on Berachain. The goal is to find the cheapest crypto swaps for traders by scouring through different exchanges. 

Succinct raised $43M to make cryptography easier. Not the heroes we deserve, but the heroes we need.

MANTRA Chain raised $11M to develop a blockchain tailored to real-world assets (RWA’s). It will be used to swap tokenized real estate and other assets and is close to securing regulatory approval in the Middle East. 

Tensorplex Labs raised $3M to build infrastructure for decentralized AI networks. The funding round included big names like Quantstamp and Amber Group.

HELP THE MILK MAN DELIVER 🥛

We’re on a search for a talented and driven crypto-native Finance Analyst and Writer to join our Milk Road team!

This role combines the expertise of financial analysis with a deep understanding of the cryptocurrency ecosystem to provide our subscribers with unparalleled insights into tokenomics, market trends, sector developments, and investment strategies.

If this is you, what are you waiting for? Fill out the form here.

THE MILK ROAD POLL RESULTS ARE IN 👀

Yesterday we ran a poll asking which blockchain you all are using the most right now. 

Well, the results are in… **drumroll**...

P.S. – The most popular answers for ‘Other’ were…

• Base

• Polygon

• Arbitrum

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Cryptio’s crypto accounting platform for enterprise integrates directly with major fiat accounting software providers. It’s straightforward to use while remaining GAAP & IFRS-compliant. Read more about their services in our review!

The Avalanche Foundation is launching a new incentive program to boost memecoins on the Avalanche blockchain. It’s called ‘Meme Coin Rush’ and will hand out rewards to users who provide liquidity for memecoin trading pools on certain DeFi platforms.

JPMorgan says BTC remains in ‘overbought territory’ despite the recent correction. JPMorgan analysts argue that two metrics — JPMorgan's futures position proxies and the bitcoin futures price premium over the spot — suggest bitcoin is still overbought.

OKX is exiting India. The crypto exchange has asked users to withdraw funds by Apr. 30, 2024.

Ark Invest sold $52M worth of COIN shares. Ark’s investment strategy doesn’t let any individual holding take up more than 10% of an ETF's portfolio – meaning it’s likely to continue rebalancing if COIN's price keeps rising.

Bernstein is predicting BTC could hit $90,000 by the end of the year. This is up from its initial prediction of $80,000 a few weeks ago. 

MILKY MEMES 🤣

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RATE TODAY’S EDITION

ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy. In his lane. Focused.

— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)
Mar 22, 2024

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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.