October 28, 2022

🥛How Ethereum is fighting cancer 👊

GM. This is the Milk Road. We're the Now 100 of Crypto. We only bring you the best hits. 

Here’s how we’re closing out the week: 

  • Use Case of the Week: Cancer & the Ethereum Blockchain

  • Is A Stablecoin War Coming?

  • Funding Friday: A Decentralized Uber, An Operating System for DAOs, and more

  • Meme of the Day

USE CASE OF THE WEEK: CANCER & THE ETHEREUM BLOCKCHAIN

“What’s the blockchain even used for?!”

That’s the #1 question the haters like to ask. And it can get annoying to answer.

It’s like when you’re at a party and that one random drunk guy asks you “who do you even know here?!”

So each week, we’re gonna give you a real-world example of how the blockchain is being used. 

Today’s use case: How the Ethereum blockchain is being used to fight cancer.

Back in April, a bunch of researchers wanted to study if artificial intelligence (AI) models could help detect cancerous cells in the human body.

They ran into 2 problems:

1/ They need a lot of data to train the AI (aka the medical history of a bunch of people)

But researchers can’t just share sensitive medical data with other researchers around the world. 

It’s a little something called patient confidentiality. I mean, do I really want all the researchers in the world to know my second toe is bigger than my first?

So instead of sharing the raw medical data, they decided to run AI models separately and share those results instead. (Kinda like sharing Cliffs Notes instead of the entire book)

But this led to the second problem…

2/ The system is centralized

The researchers couldn't just run separate AI models and call it a day. They have to bring the data together under one lab. This lab controls the learning process based on all the AI models.

This centralization is bad because it could lead to an exploit or takeover of the data. (And someone could find out about my weird toes, and use them against me)

So what’d the researchers do? They put the data from the AI models onto the Ethereum blockchain. Yup, the 2 biggest hype trains (Ethereum & A.I) have formed into one.

This way they:

  • secured the data on a decentralized network

  • used smart contracts to govern access

  • got quicker & more precise cancer diagnosis

So, next time someone asks you at a party “so like, what’s the blockchain really used for?”

You can tell ‘em it’s kicking cancer's ass 👊

IS A STABLECOIN WAR COMING?

We've been wrong about a few things this year. Hell, the Milk Road portfolio is down over 60%🤮

And earlier this year the Milk Man made a prediction2022 will be the year of stablecoins. 

People thought he was crazy. They gave him the look you give someone that forgot to put deodorant on in the morning.

“Uhhh, you mean that thing that never goes up in price? Always stable, always $1?", they said. 

Well, guess what… Stablecoins have been booming:

  • 86% increase in stablecoin volume over the last year

  • 3 of the largest 7 cryptocurrencies by market cap are stablecoins

  • 33% of Latin Americans have used stablecoins for everyday purchases

So, why do people like stablecoins? Simple. They hold strong against inflation, war, and market uncertainties. Stablecoins are as tough as a Nokia phone.

Now there’s talk that a new stablecoin might be hitting the block[chain] soon…

An FTX stablecoin. Here’s what SBF (Lord Fro of FTX), had to say in a recent interview.

And just like that, the stablecoin market just got that much more interesting. If you don’t know, there’s been some big shifts over the last year.

  • USDT’s market share went from 90% → 50%

  • USDC’s market share went from 10% → 32%

  • BUSD’s market share went from 0.5% → 15.5%

Add FTX to the mix and the Stablecoin War could get spicier than the wings Shaq ate on Hot Ones.

TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY LEMON.IO

I know this has happened to you before. 

You’re driving in your car and then all of a sudden…. you come up with a genius idea. An idea so good you wanna call your boss, give em a piece of your mind, and just quit.

But there’s a problem: you have no clue how to actually build your idea. 

That’s where Lemon.io comes in. It's the premier marketplace to find the best software engineers out there.

  • Only 1% of all developers that apply get accepted into Lemon.io – so you know you’re getting the top shelf help

  • Match developers that perfectly fit your needs, in 48h or less

  • Offers zero-risk replacement guarantee – so even if something goes wrong they’ll find you a replacement 

And today’s your lucky day. You can also claim a special 15% discount here just for being a Milk Road reader!

FUNDING FRIDAY

Each Friday we give you a rundown of Web3 companies that got funded during the week.

This week, we saw ~$58m get invested into crypto companies & funds. Here’s who got the money:

Origami got $6.2m to build an operating system for DAOs. It was built by the same team that created Orange DAO (the Y Combinator alumni DAO)

Paragraph got $1.7m to build web3-powered newsletters. 

Exclusible got $5m to build a luxury NFT platform for brands and artists. They've already partnered with big shots like Formula 1 and Bugatti. 

Decentralized Engineering Corporation (DEC) got $7m to build a decentralized Uber. 

If you wanna check out the complete database of companies that raised money in 2022, we got 'em for you right here.

MEME OF THE DAY

That's a wrap for today, ladies & gents. See ya next week!

If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)

A ROADERS REVIEW

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

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.