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October 25, 2022

🥛Milkbusters: Do criminals love crypto?

GM. This is the Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that gives you the 411 on all the best crypto news for the day.

We’ll even be your 911 for crypto emergencies when you need it.

Here’s what we got for you today:

  • Milkbusters: Is crypto a good way to pay for illegal stuff?

  • New feature alert: Twitter is working on a crypto wallet

  • Quick bites

  • Meme of the Day

MILKBUSTERS: IS CRYPTO A GOOD WAY TO PAY FOR ILLEGAL STUFF?

We’re back again for another edition of The Milkbusters, where we dive into some of the toughest questions and debunk the biggest misconceptions in crypto.

Today we’re talking about using crypto to pay for illegal stuff.

It’s a myth as old as crypto itself. Wanna get away with…

Laundering money? Use crypto.

Buying guns & drugs? Use crypto.

Ordering pizza with pineapple without people finding out? Use crypto. (And yes, pineapples on pizza are illegal in the Milk Road Court of Law)

But the truth is crypto is actually one of the worst payment methods for illegal activities.

That’s because there’s a permanent trace of every single transaction on the blockchain. So whether it’s used for good or bad activities, the blockchain always keeps a receipt.

The blockchain is like my ex-girlfriend – always has the receipts & messages ready.

Although it’s true that crypto was frequently being used to buy illegal stuff on sites like the Silk Road a few years ago, that isn’t the case today.

According to the 2022 Chainanalysis Crypto Crime Report, illicit activity’s share of cryptocurrency transaction volume has never been lower (only makes up ~0.15% of all transactions).

And with more blockchain analytics tools and blockchain investigators like ZachXBT, it’s getting harder & harder to get away with the crimes.

Just ask Adrian Kwiatkowski, the 23-year-old hacker who stole unreleased songs from some of the biggest names in music.

Post Malone. Ed Sheeran. Lil Uzi Vert.

In total, Adrian stole 1,263 songs from 89 different artists. This guy was the walking Limewire.

Now the hard part is trying to sell the songs. You can’t just go to the pawn shop to sell an “Ed Sheeran bundle” for money.

So Adrian turned to Bitcoin. He ended up selling 2 Ed Sheeran and 12 Lil Uzi Vert unreleased songs for ~$147k in BTC.

But there was a problem: Adrian used a crypto address that was linked to his email address. Busted. 

Now he’s getting sentenced to 18 months in prison.

All because he fell for the common myth: Use crypto for crime to avoid the time.

Maybe next time he’ll use the most used payment method for criminals – cash.

NFT WALLET FEATURE: TWITTER IS WORKING ON A CRYPTO WALLET

Jane Wong is the Queen of Developers. Tester of New Features & Products.

She was one of the first people to try the Twitter edit button out. And she doesn't even work for Twitter. What a boss.

Now she’s reporting that Twitter is working on a wallet prototype that supports crypto deposits & withdrawals.

Milk Road Breaking News: We’re hearing it’s gonna be called MetaMusk.

JK. Who knows what they’ll call it, there’s still a lot of info yet to be announced & the devil is always in the details.

But this is definitely worth keeping an eye on 👀

TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY EQUI

Jeff Bezos, Bill gates, Michael Dell… what’s the trend here?

Other than being billionaires with interesting style choices, they’re doing something to insulate their billions from market volatility, and that’s using an elite family office.

Until Equi, there was simply no way for high-net-worth investors to tap into investment solutions used by family offices with $500+ million.

With Equi, investors can gain access to a portfolio of handpicked non-correlated fund managers with professional risk management.

It’s no surprise that Equi’s management team is deploying the majority of their collective liquid net worths in the same solutions they offer customers, and they’ve attracted early adopters, including tech founders like Betterment’s Jon Stein, many PE, and VC Fund Managers, and dozens of tech executives.

Preliminary estimates as of September show that Equi has outperformed the S&P 500 by over 20% YTD.

See if you qualify for access here.

Equi Alternative Portfolios v. Public Market Indexes

QUICK BITES

Apple has updated the guidelines to prohibit NFTs as a way to unlock features & functionality within the app. Apple being Apple, straight up killing the fun.

MakerDAO has approved a proposal that will let Coinbase keep custody of up to $1.6b in USDC. MakerDAO will be making 1.5% in annual returns.

Vertu reveals a new Web3 phone. It can turn photos & videos into NFTs, run its own blockchain node, and comes wrapped in “Himalaya Alligator leather”. The price? $41k. Since when are Alligators in the Himalayas?

Rishi Sunak will be UK's new Prime Minister. And he loves crypto. He's the guy that was pushing for Royal NFTs and wants to make the UK a global hut for crypto.

FTX’s $1.4b bid to acquire Voyager assets gets approved by the court. Voyager users are expected to receive 72% of their funds back. But there’s a twist: They have to create an FTX account to receive compensation. Replacing Facebook Ads with billion-dollar acquisitions.

MEME OF THE DAY

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

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EQUI DISCLAIMER

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.