February 11, 2023

🥛 They set $1 trillion on fire, now they’re back

Gm. This is Milk Road. We’re the buddy that reminds you to order roses now instead of the morning of Feb. 14.

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

  • 3AC founders FLEX their new venture

  • B*tch Better Buy an NFT & earn streaming royalties

  • Coinbase users convert $5B from crypto → fiat

  • FTX lawyers might bug SBF’s phone

FROM 3AC TO OPNX

Got a fun drinking game for you on this lovely Saturday.

Peruse Su Zhu’s Thursday Twitter thread about his new crypto firm, and take a big ole swig whenever you read “pain,” “build anew,” “dark,” or “hubris.”

Finna be buzzed at 9 in the morning.

Zhu and Kyle Davies—the founders of 3AC, a hedge fund which made $1T go poof last year—have officially launched their new crypto venture. This was the one previously rumored to be called GTX. Which is way too similar to FTX for the Milk Man’s taste… *shudders in lactose*

Here’s what we know:

  • It’s called Open Exchange (OPNX)

  • The guys teamed up with the founders of CoinFLEX (crypto exchange) for the project

  • FLEX will be the exchange’s native token

  • They’re tapping into a $20B market of bankruptcy claims

  • The exchange will let people trade their crypto bankruptcy claims that are against the likes of FTX, Voyager, Celsius, Genesis, and…even 3AC

  • Zhu claims this will be the world’s first marketplace for trading crypto claims

  • There’s a Nobu-style waitlist for this thing AND a 23 nation-strong blacklist; residents in sanctioned countries like North Korea and Venezuela are barred from signing up

  • But also banned in…the U.S., a market where Voyager, Celsius, Blockfi & Genesis bankruptcies are based. wtf

So much for the “power vacuum” that Zhu/Davies wanted to fill after FTX went kaboom.

The exchange also claims it wants to eventually be “the world’s most radically transparent CEX.”… k….

Oh and that pitch deck that leaked in January that said the company would be called GTX? Most of those rumors turned out to be true, except for the name.

Which means…if it was all legit, then Zhu/Davies/CoinFLEX raising $25M for the venture could also be true. 👀

Leave it to crypto bros to f*ck up and still rake in that VC dough.

They set $1 trillion on fire, now they’re back

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B*TCH BETTER HAVE MY ROYALTY CHECK.

What’s the next best thing to meeting Rihanna? Idk, but owning some of the streaming royalties to her bangers seems satisfactory.

Jamil “Deputy” Pierre, the co-producer of Rihanna’s 2015 bop “B*tch Better Have My Money,” teamed up with crypto startup AnotherBlock and sold 300 NFTs of the track for $210 each.

And yes, that was past tense; they all sold out faster than Milk Man hitting the dance floor when he hears Pon de Replay.

The lucky NFT collectors get:

  • A portion of 0.0033% of streaming royalties for the song

  • An estimated 6.1% return for them in the first year (ka-ching)

  • Payouts starting on Feb. 16

One particularly ambitious collector has one listed on OpenSea for 69 ETH ($105k).

BBHMM has been streamed more than 673M times on Spotify alone.

Let’s hope owners get paid what they’re owed.

PANIC! AT THE [COINBASE] DISCO

The SEC is the Great White Shark that just dragged Kraken’s staking service underwater, Spielberg-style.

And now, some traders seem spooked that Coinbase is next. *Jaws theme intensifies.*

Users scrambled to convert almost $5B worth of crypto into fiat within a 24-hour period Thursday, based on data from Peckshield (blockchain analytics firm.)

Pretty sure that’s the definition of panic-selling.

Now, we don’t know for sure if the agency will train its anti-crypto staking gaze to Coinbase next.

But the exchange better watch for a fin coming at it on the horizon.

MILK AND COOKIES

It’s my money and I need it now! Bankrupt lender Voyager struck a deal with Binance for Voyager users to get some of their crypto holdings back, as long as they open a Binance account.

I’ve got my eye on you. FTX lawyers are writing up a proposal to force SBF to install software on his phone that would automatically record and save his communications. Thankfully that kind of tech wasn’t around when we were teens…

Where is Waldo Do Kwon? South Korea said it sent at least two officials to Serbia to try to find the elusive founder of the Terra network that collapsed last year. The King of Ghosting has been MIA since September.

MILKY MEMES

🤣🤣

That's a wrap for today. Stay thirsty & see ya tomorrow! If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)

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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.