June 23, 2022

🥛 Facebook’s coming for NFTs

GM. This is the Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that has you squeezing every last drop like it’s the last of your Capri Sun. Damn, that stuff is good.

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • NFTs are coming to FB

  • Bill Murray is entering Web3

  • Doodles make some noise at NFT NYC

  • Is Maple Finance struggling?

NFTS ARE COMING TO FACEBOOK SOON

We've been getting hints NFTs would be coming to Instagram. Yesterday, Zuck gave us a few updates.

Here's some of the key stuff:

  • Instagram is opening up their NFT features to more users. You'll also be able to feature your NFTs on Instagram stories

  • NFTs are coming to FB next. That’s right, Uncle Vincent and Aunt Carol can get in on the NFT action soon. 

  • Instagram Marketplace is coming soon

  • No revenue cuts until 2024. Looks like FB won't get a piece of the pie for 1.5 years.

It's been a busy week for FB aka Meta.

A few days ago, they announced they were teaming up with other tech companies to create a Metaverse Standards Body. The companies include Adobe, Epic Games, Microsoft, and a few others. Looks like Apple got their invite lost in the mail…

The Milk Road's Take: I'm still unsure what exactly this "Metaverse Standards Body" is gonna do… but it sure sounds like the complete opposite of decentralization.

Learn to read the room, Zuck. 

BILL MURRAY IS ENTERING THE NFT SPACE

Bill Murray is the newest Hollywood legend to join the NFT world. If you don’t know him, he’s the fun uncle everyone wishes they had.

Bill's got some wild stories….he’s done stuff like:

  • Crash weddings & bachelor parties

  • Steal random peoples french fries

  • Jump behind bars to become the bartender. Order an Old Fashion? Bill's giving you straight whiskey.

  • Randomly applied to P.F Changs in an Atlanta airport. Why? “It looks like they are having the best time working at P.F. Chang’s.”

Now he’s turning all of those crazy stories into NFTs. 

They’ll work like a membership pass where holders will get access to future in-person events where you can chill with Bill.

The NFTs are launching on the Coinbase marketplace on July 15th. The cool thing is most of the funds will be donated to different charities.

Btw, if you're wondering what Bill is up to now… he’s still going strong. He’s currently touring Ireland (leading singalongs at pubs of course).

We must protect him at all costs.

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DOODLES MAKE SOME NOISE AT NFT NYC

The bear market is a quiet time for projects. But, boy, did Doodles come out guns a'blazing at NFT NYC.

They: 

  • Raised some money. The round was led by Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit) and his firm SevenSevenSix

  • Added Pharrell as their Chief Branding Officer

  • Partnered with Columbia Records to produce an NFT music album. Pharrell is the executive producer for Doodles Records: Volume 1.

  • Made Julian Holguin, the former president of Billboard, their new CEO

  • They made these announcements in an Apple style keynote, the only thing missing was Steve Jobs

Talk about some powerhouse additions. 

Oh, and they’re also the 11th highest selling NFT project ever. They've done 292k ETH ($320m+) in sales volume. 

To top it all off, the Doodles team announced a brand new Doodles 2.0 collection coming soon. The twist here is that they won’t be Ethereum NFTs, and instead will be on a different blockchain. 

The Milk Road's Take: Bear markets are for builders, and Doodles are putting in that work.

But we're gonna be honest…. the album name could use some work. Doodles Records sounds like Kidz Bop 2.0.

IS MAPLE FINANCE STRUGGLING?

Crypto has been one big game of Dominos.

Everyones playing for one thing: Don’t be next to fall.

A lot of people think Maple Finance, a crypto lender, could be next. 

They dropped a bomb earlier this week that “there may be instances where there is insufficient cash in pools” to pay back users. Uh-oh.

Now here’s the thing, Maple had no direct contact or investments with Celsius, 3AC, or even Terra… But they had clients and partners that did. 

It’s like catching a cold from your kid, who got it from their friend at school, who got it from their older brother at home. 

Add that to the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) that is spreading and you get a recipe for some financial struggles.  No bueno.

Now this looks bad… but there are a few key differences with this situation:

1/ Transparent flow of funds. Maple transactions are fully visible on-chain. This means anyone can look up where depositor funds are, who they’re in business with, etc. 

This was not the case with Celsis or 3AC. 

2/ Smart contracts run the show. Maple uses smart contracts to process all transactions and withdrawals. 

There is no button to freeze everything – which is exactly what companies like Babel and Celsus did to their clients.

The Milk Road’s Take: As we’ve seen recently, just because they have a system designed to be foolproof, it doesn’t mean it actually will hold up, but we hope it does.

See ya tomorrow!

Shaan aka “Elon’s chocolate milk” & Ben "2% Milk" Levy

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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.