Today’s edition is brought to you by Harpie – the leading crypto security tool that protects your wallet from theft with always-on threat detection and real-time fund recovery.

Secure your wallet for free →

GM. This is the Milk Road. Crypto can be a hard nut to crack - let us crack it for you.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• 58% of cryptocurrencies are dead ☠️

• Bitcoin ETF trading volume crossed $10B in 3 days 🤑

• The number of crypto devs is down 24% 📉

• Dencun completes its first test 🍪

58% OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES ARE DEAD ☠️

CoinGecko just dropped a new report on cryptocurrencies. 

Here are 4 WILD stats from it: 

• 24,000 cryptocurrencies have been listed on CoinGecko since 2014. 

• That’s an average of 7 new tokens, every single day. 

• Of those, ~58% have died. 

• More than half of the dead tokens launched during the 2021 bull run. 

The big takeaway: there’s always a spike in token “deaths” during bull runs. 

Why? It’s getting easier and easier to launch a token. Which means it’s also getting easier and easier to scam.

That’s why the number of dead tokens (mostly rugpulls) jumped from…

• 32 in 2016 → 346 during the 2017 bull run. A 10x increase.

• And then, jumped from 1,806 in 2020 → 5,724 during the 2021 bull run. A 3x increase.

With another bull run coming up, we expect another spike in “dead” tokens.

Watch out!

BITCOIN ETF TRADING VOLUME CROSSED $10B IN 3 DAYS 🤑

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have been live for less than a week. 

Let’s take a peek at the numbers so far:

• The total trading volume across all 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs crossed $10B.

• Grayscale, Fidelity, and BlackRock make up 90% of trading volume.

• There’s been more than $1B+ in trading volume every single day since the ETFs launched. 

Impressive. But there are still a lot of people who are calling the Bitcoin ETFs a “bust.” 

Why? Number no go up. 

You see, some people were speculating the Bitcoin ETF approvals would make prices explode... 

By now BTC should be at $1M and we should all have 3 mansions and 2 yachts.

Instead, BTC is down ~10% and I just called my mom to see if my room was still available. (You know, just in case.) 

But there’s a bright spot: while crypto degens aren’t too impressed with the week 1 numbers, the ETF experts are.

Side note: “combinded” sounds like something my 4-year-old nephew would say 😂

THE NUMBER OF CRYPTO DEVELOPERS IS DOWN 24%

Let’s be clear. 99% of the time, there’s no sugarcoating a stat like that. 

The number of devs is down. That sucks. Period.

But turns out, with this stat, there is a little bit of sugar. So dammit… let’s coat that sh*t up!

Yes, the total number of devs is down 24%, but according to Electric Capital…

• The number of “experienced devs” (1+ years) grew by 16%.

• The number of “established devs” (2+ years) hit a new all-time high and has grown 52% annualized over the past 5 years.

Turns out the majority of developers that left last year were “newcomers.” They’re like tourists - they only visit when the sun’s shining and the weather’s nice. 

At the end of the day - we don’t care about them, we care about the locals. The hometown heroes. The real ones. 

The good news? The number of locals keeps growing each year.

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

We sat down with the Founder & CEO of Metallicus, Marshall Hayner, to discuss his journey and the current crypto landscape. Check out the full interview with Marshall here!*

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade was successfully deployed on the Goerli test network. Next up? Sepolia on January 31 and Holesky on February 7.

VanEck is shutting down its BTC futures fund. The fund (XBTF) intends to stop trading on Jan. 30.

Socket.Tech suffered an exploit that affected various web3 apps. The attack targeted the Bungee Exchange, a frontend to the Socket Protocol that bridges between Ethereum and 12 EVM chains, resulting in a loss of about $3.3M.

AltLayer is launching its native token on January 25. The token will be launched via Binance Launchpool following a farming period that begins on Jan. 19, with an airdrop to early supporters also planned upon listing.

Gemini gained regulatory approval in France. The crypto exchange will now be able to serve both retail and institutional crypto clients.

NFT wash trading volumes on Ethereum marketplaces hit their lowest level in over a year. 1.8% is the lowest level since May 1, 2022. For reference, that’s down from 36% in January 2023.

Yuga Labs is launching a free-to-play version of its game - Dookey Dash. Weird, that’s the same game I play after my first cup of coffee every day.

*This is sponsored content

MILKY MEMES 🤣

RATE TODAY’S EDITION

ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A FREE TREZOR!

Since its first newsletter on December 31, 2021, Milk Road has delivered fun, easy-to-read content every weekday, regardless of the weather. In return for your loyalty, we've never asked for anything—until now (fact check please). We need just 3 minutes of your time for our annual sponsor survey. Your feedback will enhance our newsletter, help us find relevant sponsors, and support our operations. Plus, you could win one of three Trezor Safe wallets. 

Ready to help? Begin the survey here!

- The Milk Man

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.