GM. This is Milk Road, your daily crypto workout - no sweat, just gains.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• 3 things to watch out for this week 👀

• Presenting… the Milk Road Award winners 🏆

• 1 tool you need to be using: DefiLlama 🔧

• ‘Ready Player One’ coming soon… 🍪

3 THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR THIS WEEK 👀

We’ve got a BIG week ahead. Here are 3 things that should be on everyone’s radar…

1/ Bitcoin ETF approval.

I know I know… you’re probably as tired of hearing about ETFs as I am of writing about them.

The good news? January 10th is the deadline for the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) to make its decision on a handful of applications. 

So, regulators need to make a decision this week. 

Why this matters: The first spot Bitcoin ETF application was filed in 2013. For the last decade, every single one has been rejected. 

This is the ETF equivalent of being “friend-zoned” for 10 years straight… so if it does get approved, it would be a historical moment for Bitcoin. 

Many speculate this could lead to billions of institutional dollars flowing into BTC. Just check out how the top 25 ETF launches have performed:

There are also rumors that BlackRock has ~$2B of capital lined up from existing BTC holders who want to rotate into spot Bitcoin ETFs within the first week. 

On top of that, ETF issuers are battling in a Fee War to attract the first investors:

• Grayscale dropped its fees from 2% → 1.5%.

• BlackRock cut its fees from 0.3% → 0.2% for the first 12 months, or until $5B volume is hit (whichever comes first).

• Ark Invest lowered its fees from 0.8% → 0.25% (and NO fees for the first 6 months, or until $1B volume is hit).

• Other issuers like Bitwise and Invesco Galaxy have also waived fees for the first 6 months. 

This is a good sign. Institutions are likely anticipating a lot of early demand from investors and, to stay competitive, are cutting fees to make their products more attractive. 

(PSA to Netflix, Hulu, and all other streaming services… take notes)!

2/ CPI results are dropping this week.

The U.S. is dropping its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report on Thursday. 

CPI = the average change in prices for everyday things like housing, clothes, transportation, food, etc. 

Why this matters: CPI data drives interest rate policy, which drives market prices up and down. 

Keeping track of the data is like going to the dentist - painful, but necessary. 

(Side note - if you’ve ever been curious about where the CPI comes from and why it’s controversial, we break it down here).

3/ Another round of liquidations coming?

If crypto had a middle name, it’d be… Volatile. (Last name: As F*ck).

And right now, crypto is more volatile than it’s been in years. 

One of the big reasons? Liquidations. 

Why this matters: With the SEC’s decision to approve/deny a spot Bitcoin ETF and CPI numbers coming, we expect some volatility and liquidations this week.

Brace yourselves. This is one of those weeks where it might be best to just sit on your hands and do nothing. 

Milk Road Rule #62: Sometimes it’s better to spectate and enjoy the show vs. speculate and turn into a losing player.

PRESENTING… THE MILK ROAD AWARD WINNERS! 🏆

We asked. You voted. The results are in. 

Ladies and gentlemen, at this time we ask that you please rise and remove your caps…

*stadium goes pitch black… epic music starts playing… random spotlights start shining everywhere… some guy ziplines down from the roof*

Without further ado, here are this year’s Milk Road Award winners… 

Most Valuable Blockchain (MVB) of the Year: Bitcoin.

Comeback Player of the Year: Solana.

Exchange of the Year: Coinbase.

DAO of the Year: Uniswap.

Crypto Wallet of the Year: Metamask.

Altcoin of the Year: INJ.

NFT Project of the Year: Cryptopunks.

Crypto Thought Leader of the Year: Cobie.

Congratulations to all the winners! 

Frame it. Call your Mom. Hang it on the fridge. Get a tattoo. No judgments here.

1 TOOL YOU NEED TO BE USING: DEFILLAMA

Every crypto investor should be using on-chain tools.

If you’re not, you’re at a big disadvantage. It’s like bringing a Swiss army knife to a gunfight; you’re gonna lose…

(Unless you’re Rambo, that mfer could kill a platoon of soldiers with a toothpick and a pillow).

Well, we recently gave you a sneak peek into the Milk Road On-Chain Toolkit. 

These are 8 tools we use daily to analyze data, find trends, protect our assets, etc.

We got a lot of great feedback and one big request… dive deeper into each one.

Your wish is our command. So we’re creating step-by-step guides for each tool, starting with the most requested one… DefiLlama. 

Check out the whole guide here! Save it. Bookmark it. Bop it. Twist it. Pull it.

P.S. - next up, we’ll be diving deeper into Etherscan.

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Warner Bros is teaming up with Futureverse to build a virtual world based on “Ready Player One”. No one knows what this means, exactly, but it has the nerd’s chest bumping in the office.

New crypto projects are rewarding Celestia stakers with airdrops. Staking as little as 1 TIA made some users eligible for one of the upcoming airdrops. —DL News

VanEck is pledging 5% of profits for its Bitcoin ETF toward supporting Bitcoin Core developers. It’s a 10-year pledge and an initial $10K grant has already been given to a group of Bitcoin devs. 

In-person businesses accepting Bitcoin nearly tripled in 2023. There are currently over 6,000 vendors that accept Bitcoin around the world, with many located in Latin America.

Digital Currency Group (DCG) has paid off short-term loans from its bankrupt subsidiary Genesis. A September court filing shows that DCG owed more than $1.7 billion to Genesis and other creditors.

Logan Paul has committed $2.3M to buy back CryptoZoo NTFs. The move comes after the metaverse game concept collapsed.

MILKY MEMES 🤣

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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.