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GM. This is Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that hits harder than a Rocky training montage.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• ✍️ Coinbase Summit highlights

• ✍️ COTD: Weekly crypto fund flows

• 📈 PRO Where are we in the cycle indicators 

• 🍪 Polymarket user charged after Taiwan election bet

• 🎙️ Milk Road Radio: The biggest companies in the world talk crypto

COINBASE SUMMIT HIGHLIGHTS ⭐

Hey there, Roaders! Prices might be looking as red as a sunburnt tomato, but we've got some sweet news to brighten your day!

The State of Crypto Summit 2024 in New York last week was the real deal, pulling together over 600 top crypto policymakers, regulators, institutions, and founders.

Hosted by Coinbase, this one-day bash was loaded with big names—pensions, endowments, brokerages, and giants like Google, PayPal, BlackRock, and even Mark Cuban.

This event was bursting with alpha. The Milk Man’s buddy Yano, co-founder of Blockworks, snaged some killer notes from inside the summit. 📓

For the full scoop, check out Yano's tweet, but we’ve summarized our 3 favorite discussions for you!

1/ Beyond Bitcoin ETFs: What's next on the institutional roadmap? 

Led by Alesia Haas (Coinbase CFO) and Samara Cohen (CIO of ETF/Index Investments at BlackRock), who manages a cool $6.6 trillion in BlackRock’s index funds and iShares ETFs. That's right, trillion with a T!

Here's the rundown:

• Regulatory Clarity: Clients from Coinbase and BlackRock want clearer rules. Most financial advisors are still spooked by crypto, but hey, that’s their job.

• Tokenization Excitement: Crypto firms are buzzing about tokenized funds—first we saw the digitization of every asset, next it’ll be the tokenization of every asset.

• ETF Dynamics: A record $12 billion in net inflows over 3 months, with 80% from retail investors. 

• Institutions Late: Still on their way, probably stuck in traffic, expected to arrive in 2025.

2/ CEO Spotlight: Building the future of money 

Brian Armstrong (Coinbase CEO) and Cathie Wood (Ark Invest CEO) shared their visions. Ark manages over $6 billion in assets and is known for trailblazing research in crypto ETFs.

Here’s the lowdown:

• Institutional Involvement: Retail folks kicked things off, but now the big guns (like 56% of Fortune 500 companies) are diving into onchain projects.

• Coinbase Excitement: They’re pumped about Base and smart wallets more than everything else. Onboarding is their big focus!

• Future Generations: Future kids won’t even need bank accounts—they’ll just use their phones as digital wallets.

• Coinbase’s Future: Centralized exchanges rule for now, but Brian’s bet is on peer-to-peer, onchain transactions being the real future.

3/ CIO Perspectives: The role of crypto in investment portfolios

Sebastian Pedro (Coinbase Asset Management), Matt Halstead (Teacher Retirement System of Texas), and Matt Hougan (Bitwise CIO) shared some milky insights.

The highlights: 

• Asymmetric Opportunity: Crypto’s got this unique setup where there’s massive upside and limited downside.

• Future Adoption: Simple, expect a 5% adoption in the next 5 years 

• Portfolio Allocation Debate: Forget that previously expected 1% crypto allocation —institutions are now eyeing a meatier 3-5% exposure.

• Market Position: Not buying crypto? You’re betting against the market.

🥛Milk Road Take: While online chatter has been as depressed as a rainy Monday, the vibe at the event was sky-high!

It’s clear that ETFs have paved the way for long-term crypto adoption, marking the first true institutional cycle—though ironically, institutions aren't fully here yet.

It's like waiting for that friend who's always "almost there" but shows up when you least expect it. So, you best be ready! 🏃

But don’t take our word for it. 

We got our friend Yano to hop on the pod and share all the insights he snagged from the summit.

One tasty tidbit? He dished about his lunch with Rich Widmann, Google's Head of Strategy for Web3...

Listen to our latest podcast to soak up all the alpha from Yano himself, and trust me, you don’t want to miss it! 🎙🎧

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CHART OF THE DAY: WEEKLY CRYPTO FUND FLOWS 📊 

The weekly fund flows are in! Last week we saw a flip of the script, with a staggering outflow of $600 million breaking the 5 week streak. 😡 

Here’s the lowdown:

• Bitcoin ($BTC): Took a major hit with $621 million in outflows. The FOMC's hawkish stance scared off the investors, causing the big drop.

• Ethereum ($ETH): While Bitcoin was down, Ethereum saw $13 million in inflows. A glimmer of hope amid the chaos!

Despite the major outflows and a rocky week for Bitcoin, Ethereum showed resilience. The recent FOMC dot plot likely spooked investors, prompting them to scale back their exposure to fixed-supply assets.

In short, the dot plot gives a snapshot of the Fed's interest rate expectations and can influence investor behavior in these markets.

As always, stay sharp and keep your eyes on the horizon! 🌅

PRO “WHERE ARE WE IN THE CYCLE?” INDICATORS 🤔 

Crypto moves in cycles, and knowing where we are in the current cycle is crucial for capturing the best opportunities.

The goal is to spot the bull market peak before the inevitable bear market hits your bags hard.

Since timing the top perfectly is almost impossible, we use various indicators to give us a better shot at taking profits before it's too late.

Here are the 5 indicators we track, with a color-coded system to show how close they are to signalling the market peak:

🟢 Plenty of room to run 🏄

🟡 Getting closer to the top signal, but haven’t yet reached the mark ⚠️

🔴 We’ve hit the market top indicator 🚨

Every Tuesday, we update these 5 indicators exclusively for PRO members.

Our advice? Don't wait for all of them to hit 🔴. It's better to take profits as they get closer to that point.

Let's dive in and see if we're anywhere near the top of this bull market. 👇

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Ronin to scale web3 games with new zkEVM. The gaming-focused blockchain is going big or going home, prepping to handle up to 4 billion transactions. They’re so ready for this, they might need a scoreboard to keep track of all the zeros. Game on!

Dogecoin posts double-digit drop amid surge in long liquidations. The memecoin’s value took a nosedive, plummeting over 10% as long liquidations soared past $60 million.

Polymarket gambler faces charges after Taiwan election bet. A Taiwanese man placed bets on the 2024 election using Polymarket, only to find himself facing charges. Looks like his wager didn’t pay off—turns out gambling on politics is a risky bet!

Binance tries to mollify ZKsync users left out of airdrop with $2.4m distribution. The Centralized exchange said it would step in to appease angry users. Looks like they are playing Santa early this year, calming the crypto crowd with some festive generosity.

CleanSpark buys bitcoin mining facilities in a $25.6 million deal. The Bitcoin miner just bought five turnkey bitcoin mining facilities. With a hashrate set to exceed 3.7 EH/s, they’re mining so much bitcoin, they might need a bigger piggy bank!

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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.