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GM. This is Milk Road. We make crypto clearer than your ex’s mixed signals.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• 3 trends to keep your eyes on 👀

• $600M+ is being unlocked this week 💸

• Bitcoin’s circulating supply in profit hits multi-year high 🍪

3 TRENDS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON 👀

Graphs are everywhere in crypto. 

The problem? They’re hard as f*ck to understand.

It’s like trying to read a book… except, it’s in Spanish. (and I only know about 5 and a half Spanish words).

Well, today we’re gonna show you 3 important, easy-to-understand graphs. No Rosetta Stone needed.

Let’s dive in. 

1/ INSTITUTIONAL MONEY KEEPS FLOWING INTO CRYPTO

What happened: Digital asset investment products saw $346M in inflows last week. 

According to CoinShare’s latest report:

• BTC led the way with $312M in inflows. Bringing the year-to-date total to $1.5B. 

• ETH saw another big week of inflows. $34M last week and $103M over the last month. (It’s almost evened out the run of outflows earlier this year).

• Some altcoins also saw minor inflows. The top tokens (not named BTC or ETH) that saw inflows were SOL, DOT, and LINK. 

• Total assets under management (AUM) rose to $45.3B. It’s the highest level in 1.5 years. 

Why this matters: This was the largest weekly inflow since late 2021. 

Oh, and it also extended the streak to 9 straight weeks of inflows. **chest bumps all around**

CoinShares analysts believe that the run was “spurred by anticipation of a spot-based ETF launch in the U.S.”

We’ll see if the streak continues next week.

2/ STABLECOIN SUPPLIES ARE INCREASING

What happened: Stablecoin supplies are up $2.2B over the last 90 days. 

Why this matters: Earlier this month, the 90-day change in stablecoin supplies flipped positive. It was the first time that’s happened since May 2022. 

(You’ll need a magnifying glass to see that sliver of green on the graph, but it’s there. I promise).

This is a positive sign that on-chain liquidity is improving.

3/ EVM CHAINS ARE SEEING BIG TRANSACTION COUNT INCREASES

What happened: Alternative Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains are seeing BIG increases in transaction counts over the last week. 

• Fantom is up 1,321%.

• Celo is up 1,277%.

• Avalanche is up 857%.

• Polygon is up 155%.

Why this matters: Ethereum is like the DMV. (aka the Department of Motor Vehicles),

If you don’t know what that is, just imagine hell on Earth. Now add paperwork, super long lines, and voila - that’s the DMV. 

And like the DMV,  Ethereum can be slow (~15 transactions per second) and expensive ($10-$100 transaction fees). 

As more people use Ethereum, the slower and more expensive it gets. 

That’s where EVMs come in. It’s like having a scanner machine at the front desk of the DMV. It checks all your paperwork and completes your transaction, instead of having you wait in line all day long. 

It’s fast, cheap, and there’s no waiting period. 

(Btw, as we get closer and closer to another bull run we predict that more and more people will look toward EVM solutions as a cheap alternative to Ethereum’s main network).

$600M+ IS BEING UNLOCKED THIS WEEK 💸

Every crypto trader needs to know about token unlocks.

You see, when a token launches there are early investors, employees, developers, etc, that receive tokens for cheap (sometimes even for free).

But the tokens are “locked” for a certain period of time. This is so they don’t immediately dump the tokens, take the profit, and run to the beach to sip on margaritas.

Well, check it out…

There’s $600M+ worth of crypto tokens being unlocked over the next week. Here are the top 7 biggest unlocks that are happening:

Token unlocks are usually followed by one thing… price volatility.

And with some of these projects unlocking $40M+ in tokens, we expect prices to move up and down like it was the Drop of Doom at Six Flags.

BITE-SIZED COOKIES 🍪

Bitcoin circulating supply in profit hits multi-year high. The current percentage of bitcoin held in profit hit 83% - the highest level since November 2021. 

A U.S. federal judge ruled Changpeng Zhao must stay in the U.S. as he awaits sentencing. Zhao pleaded guilty to breaking anti-money laundering laws last week and is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

Jito Foundation announced it's launching a governance token called JTO. The token will help manage and develop the Jito Network (a Solana-based liquid staking protocol).

The SEC says it's been trying to serve Richard Heart a lawsuit for allegedly selling unregistered securities for weeks now. The problem? The founder of Hex and PulseChain is nowhere to be found. It’s Catch Me If You Can, in real life.

Circle partnered with SBI Holdings to expand the USDC stablecoins presence in Japan. SBI is looking to register in Japan to help circulate USDC stablecoins, while SBI Shinsei Bank will offer banking services for Circle.

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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.