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GM. This is Milk Road, the newsletter that’s here to guide you through the crypto world, one meme and market update at a time.

Here’s what we got for you today:

TOP WEB3 APPS TO GAIN WEB2 ADOPTION 🤝

Two clicks of your iPhone’s lock button and a quick scan of your face.

That’s all it takes for you to pay for 100 gallons of mayonnaise at your local supermarket.

Why are you buying that much mayonnaise? We don’t need to know. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Just like you don’t need to know what debit/credit network your payment is being processed through – it all just works.

This kind of seamless functionality is key to crypto mass adoption – but very few blockchain-based products have been able to pull off the magic trick.

Here’re five web3 products that have employed enough simplicity and optionality to win the hearts and minds of web2 users.

1/ Polymarket: Betting on the blockchain

Who will win the U.S. presidential election? Will Biden pardon Diddy? Will the US confirm that aliens exist in 2024?

These are all things you can bet on via Polymarket.

But what might be unknown to those placing bets via credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and/or bank transfer, is this: 

All bets are made via Polygon. 💰

(And so far they’ve racked up more than $271M in volume!)

2/ NBA Top Shot: Collecting digital hoops history

NFTs entered the mainstream in 2021, thanks largely to NBA Top Shot.

Collectors rushed to grab their favorite players’ greatest on-court moments (like Steph Curry’s 2016 half-court 3-pointer) – racking up $224M in sales volume (and logging 80,000 unique buyers) in February 2021 alone. 🏀

The options at checkout? Debit, credit, or crypto.

3/ Reddit Avatars: Your identity in web3

When Twitter allowed users to upload verified NFTs as their profile picture, it was a neat feature.

…but why add a neat feature, when you could create a neat business?

That’s the approach Reddit took with their Avatar NFT rollout. 👤

Users could auto-generate a crypto wallet under their account and start buying/selling seamlessly via Stripe (with Reddit collecting fees along the way). 

Sure, crypto was used to complete the transactions – but users didn’t have to be aware of it.

4/ Axie Infinity & Hamster Combat

Axie Infinity kicked off the Play-to-Earn (P2E) revolution last cycle, and now Hamster Combat is carrying the torch.

Axie Infinity set the stage by letting players earn real crypto through battling cute creatures (think: Pokémon, but with real/tradable in-game currency). 

Now, Hamster Combat has upped the ante with its Telegram-native game. 🎮

Both are mullet products (gaming in the front, crypto in the back).

5/ Bitcoin & Stablecoins

In countries where buying stocks feels impossible and local currencies drop faster than an over-hyped meme coin, Bitcoin and stablecoins are life rafts of sorts. 🛟

Bitcoin acts like gold, preserving wealth in places with runaway inflation, while stablecoins provide access to stable global currencies, for everyday use. 

Together, they’re becoming the go-to solution where traditional systems are failing. 

(Bitcoin for saving, stablecoins for spending).

Alright, that’s it! 

Did we miss anything? Hit reply and let us know if we did.

BITCOIN SUPPLY SHOCK INCOMING? ⚡

Alright, it’s Friday – and most of you are probably busy mentally planning out your weekends.

So, let’s skip the analogy for this one and jump right in.

Sound good? Alright, let’s do this…

Bitcoin exchange reserves are at an all time looow. And when we say low – we mean Milk Road Portfolio-levels of low.

But hey, in the case of Bitcoin exchange reserves – that’s a good thing!

Low $BTC reserves basically means exchanges have very little supply of Bitcoin left. 

And low supply + strong demand = number go up.

…but right now, ‘number go sideway’ – so what’s the missing ingredient?

So, what do we need for demand to increase? 

✨Glo-bal Liq-uid-it-y ✨

If you know us, you’ll know we love to talk all things global liquidity – and that’s because it’s a key driver of global market prices.

More liquidity (fresh cash) in global markets typically leads to higher market prices.

Good news is: global liquidity is trending upwards. 

Here are the three driving factors behind it: 

Each of these factors lead to new money finding its way into the global financial system.

Cool, what does that have to do with crypto?

Well, crypto has directional alignment with global liquidity (liquidity up = prices up, liquidity down = prices down).

In fact, when global liquidity increases – Bitcoin increases the most across all major assets!

Check this out:

Tie this in with a growing surge in global liquidity, and it looks like we could be getting ingredient #2 (strong demand) very soon. 👀

Looks like our Milk Road Portfolio won’t be down for much longer. 😉 

Alright, that’s your little nugget for today.

Now get out of here. You have a weekend to enjoy.

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Blockscout is your next-level block explorer. Multi-chain, highly configurable, and open-source, this essential DeFi tool gives access to all chain data and dApp functionalities. *

Fidelity, a crypto ETF issuer, experienced a data breach affecting over 77,000 customers. This breach compromised personal information such as names and other identifiers, but no accounts were accessed.

Ubisoft, the developer behind Assassin's Creed, has launched its first crypto-powered game. This game is called Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles which uses NFTs as in-game assets.

Ripple has escalated its legal battle with the SEC by filing a cross-appeal. This appeal aims to challenge parts of the court's ruling related to XRP's sales.

Stripe has reintroduced crypto payments in the U.S., allowing businesses to accept stablecoins as payments. Eligible payment methods include $USDC and $USDP on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon.

*this is sponsored content

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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.