GM. This is Milk Road, the crypto newsletter hotter than a validator's server room in August.
Hereβs a taste of this weekβs menu:
- π₯ Ethereum and Base are NOT AT WAR.
- π₯΅ Every company will have its own chain.
- πΆοΈ Galaxy has a secret money printer.
HOT TAKES OF THE WEEK π₯
Base and Ethereum aren't getting divorced π
Crypto Twitter is at odds yet again over a technical detail regarding account abstraction, the technology that enables the building of Web2-like user account management systems for Web3.
Binji (Founding Member at Ethlabs) is pushing back against the drama after Ethereum and Base gave up on building a shared account-abstraction standard.
His take is that Facebook building its own website doesn't mean it has divorced itself from the internet. His analogy: Ethereum is New York, and if every neighborhood were Tribeca, he'd never go.
Plus, Base has billions in ETH sitting on it and is consuming blobs "like nobody's business."
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
Every company gets a chain π
Karl Floersch (Co-founder & CTO of OP Labs) says we're heading to a world of a million chains, where every company has one, just as every company ended up with a website.
More than 50 organizations are already running L2s on the OP Stack, and they processed ~6B transactions last year.
He says weβre still early, with less than 1% of the global financial system onchain.
Karl also said the new SEC/CFTC rulemaking might actually be better than the CLARITY Act, since the bill was full of compromises.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
Galaxy's secret money printer π¨οΈ
Kyle Reidhead (Head of Research at Milk Road) already has 10% of his portfolio in Galaxy, and he's itching to buy more.
The market hates Galaxy's crypto business because it was supposed to help fund the AI data center buildout, but Kyle's pointing out that crypto just ran 30%, and nobody remembers how profitable crypto businesses get when volumes come back.
His bet is that the crypto side starts printing, that cash funds the data centers, and the flywheel gets massive.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
How 2M+ Professionals Stay Ahead on AI
Whatβs the secret to staying ahead of the curve in the world of AI? Information.
Luckily, you can join 2,000,000+ early adopters reading The Rundown AI β the free newsletter that makes you smarter on AI with just a 5-minute read per day.
HOT TAKES OF THE WEEK (P2) π₯
Hyperliquid is coming for the #2 spot π₯
Eliezer Ndinga (Head of Research at 21Shares) is doubling down on his call that Hyperliquid can become the second-largest crypto asset behind Bitcoin.
At ~$24B, HYPE trades at 30x+ its gross revenue, and Eli says the Kraken/Payward deal (which opens regulated U.S. access) helps justify that premium.
He calls Hyperliquid the "Google of price discovery," with open interest at an all-time high of $18B+.
Fun fact he threw in: Google was roughly the 21st search engine, so being early doesn't mean winning.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
The market is sleeping on IREN's power π
Martin Toman (Lead Analyst at Milk Road) thinks Wall Street is valuing IREN only on its contracted business and missing the 5GW of secured power it has locked up.
For context, Galaxy is in second place with 1.6GW, and demand runs into the tens of gigawatts.
IREN's first Microsoft building is already generating ~$1B in revenue, and Martin expects all four buildings (~$4B in total) to be online by year-end.
The catch is that IREN needs ~$25B in funding next year, so Martin is modeling 20% dilution and waiting a week or two before he buys.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD πͺ
If you hold HOOD, read this. Robinhood has grown into an all-in-one platform for stocks, crypto, IRAs, prediction markets, credit cards and advanced trading tools.**
21Shares Head of Research says Hyperliquid will eventually trump all competition.
Is shielded Bitcoin on the horizon?
Polygon burns 100M POL tokens but remain net inflationary.
**this is partner content.
