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šŸ„› Is crypto funding terrorism? šŸ§

PLUS: How India's largest oil company is using the blockchain... šŸ‘€

Todayā€™s edition is brought to you by Mindvalley - learn the secrets behind wealth creation from experts who have walked the path.

GM. This is Milk Road, the daily newsletter that brings you all the ā€œooohā€s and ā€œaaahā€s of crypto.

Hereā€™s what we got today:

  • Is crypto funding terrorism? šŸ’°

  • Use case of the week: blockchain-based purchase orders šŸ‘€

  • We tried a new network this weekā€¦ šŸ§

  • Bitcoin has stablecoins now šŸŖ

IS CRYPTO FUNDING TERRORISM? šŸ’°

Youā€™ve probably seen all the headlines recentlyā€¦

ā€œCryptocurrency feeds terrorismā€

ā€œTerrorists are using crypto to fuel their attacksā€

All the major media outlets are reporting something like thisā€¦

But, is it true? Letā€™s look at some of the Cold-Milky-Facts.

1/ Hamas terrorists stopped accepting Bitcoin earlier this year

In April 2023, Hamas announced it would stop using Bitcoin to raise funds from donors.

Why? ā€œOut of concern about the safety of donors and to spare them any harmā€

  • Governments started tracking transactions on the blockchain to identify donors

  • Millions of dollars worth of crypto held by terrorists were seized

As a result, the amount of crypto received by terrorist groups has plummeted over the last months. Check it outā€¦

2/ Some of the wallets flagged belong to service providers, not individual terrorists

Many media outlets reported that $130M+ worth of crypto was funneled to terrorists.

Well according to Chainalysis (a blockchain analytics firm), those numbers are likely inflated.

For example, it was reported that ~$82M worth of crypto was sent to a crypto exchange in Gaza called Buy Cash.

Well, turns out only a small fraction (~$450K) of this was actually transferred by terrorist-affiliated walletsā€¦

3/ Some of the flagged wallets havenā€™t been used in yearsā€¦

Remember that crypto exchange I mentioned above, Buy Cash?

Well yesterday, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on ā€œten key Hamas terrorist group members, operative, and financial facilitatorsā€.

Buy Cash was one of them. But hereā€™s the kickerā€¦

  1. The wallet associated with the exchange hasnā€™t had a transaction in 18+ months.

  2. The wallet holds $16 in itā€¦

$16?! That canā€™t even fund lunch at Chick-fil-Aā€¦

The world of finance can often feel like the Milk Man at the dairy farm: overwhelming.

Well, if you want to dodge the stress and learn the secrets of wealth building from those who've mastered this path, then you'll want to secure your spot in this webinar!

Hereā€™s what youā€™ll get out of the webinar:

  • A breakdown of the mistakes often made by beginners in investing and how to avoid them yourself

  • A beginnerā€™s guide to alternative investment opportunities with unique value propositions

  • Walkthroughs of real case studies showcasing how to close profitable real estate deals

  • An introduction to efficient trading methods that have performed historically well and are easy to implement

The webinar is only available for a limited time. And spots are filling quickly.

USE CASE OF THE WEEK: BLOCKCHAIN-BASED PURCHASE ORDERS šŸ‘€

Thereā€™s one question that will make the mightiest of crypto investors crumbleā€¦

Whatā€™s a real-world use case?

Well, today weā€™re gonna talk about how one of Indiaā€™s largest oil and gas companies is using blockchain technology.

The goal? Help verify purchase orders.

  • Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) is a state-run refiner in India.

  • It partnered up with Zupple Labs (a blockchain software firm) to integrate a blockchain-based digital credential system into HPCLā€™s purchase order system.

  • For HPCL, this will make it easier to issue digital purchase orders to its vendors, without having to manually verify the purchase order requests.

  • For third-party verifiers, this makes it easier to check the validity of purchase orders by directly verifying the purchase orders on the blockchain.

The result? HPCLā€™s purchase order system becomesā€¦

1/ More efficient - HPCL and its vendors donā€™t need to go back and forth and manually verify purchase orders and other data, they can just check the blockchain.

2/ More secure - purchase orders were previously vulnerable to fraud and forgery, but using the blockchain to issue tamper-proof digital ones makes it harder to fake those purchase orders.

Itā€™s a win-win.

WE TRIED A NEW NETWORKā€¦ šŸ§

We launched our Milk Road Public wallet 3 months ago.

(Fun fact: if youā€™ve been with us during that whole time, congrats - weā€™ve officially lasted longer than 70% of relationships. Itā€™s meant to be.)

And over that time, weā€™ve:

  • Swapped tokens on DEXs āœ…

  • Staked ETH āœ…

  • Tried LSD-Fi āœ… (donā€™t worry Mom, not a drug)

  • Borrowed/lent crypto from various protocols āœ…

  • Traded perpetual futures āœ…

  • And a lot more cool stuff you can check out hereā€¦

But hereā€™s the thingā€¦ everything weā€™ve done so far has been within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Weā€™re like my wife when she orders at a restaurant - says sheā€™s gonna try something new, looks at 6 items, and then orders the same thing she always does.

Well, that all changed this week.

We took another trip up Figure It Out Mountainā„¢, but this time it was to uncharted territoryā€¦ Constellation Network.

Constellation is a decentralized network thatā€¦

  • Can validate multiple transactions simultaneously

  • Has no transaction fees (I repeat, no transaction fees)

  • Is working with the U.S. Department of Defense to build secure and interoperable communications

In the near future, weā€™ll be diving in head first to give you the full tour. And it all starts with Stargazer - a native wallet for the Constellation Network equipped withā€¦

  • Multi-chain functionality (i.e. you can see all your assets in one interface)

  • Built-in buy/swap features (i.e. you can buy crypto directly from the wallet app)

  • A contacts page that lets you save crypto addresses as ā€œcontactsā€ instead of having to manually enter them

If you wanna explore Constellation yourself, we created a whole guide here. (free of charge, just for you)

P.S. - weā€™re also curiousā€¦ are there any other networks that you wanna see us try next?

Hit ā€œreplyā€ to this email and let us know!

BITE-SIZED COOKIES šŸŖ

Coinbase has picked Ireland as its new regulatory hub within the European Union. Irish whiskey, Irish coffee (aka more whiskey), the Riverdance, and crypto. Whatā€™s not to love?

Lightning Labs launched a new protocol, Taproot Assets, on Bitcoin. The new protocol enables the issuance of stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies on Bitcoin, making it a multi-asset network.

Gemini, Genesis, and DCG have been sued by the New York Attorney General. The NYAG alleges the firms defrauded more than 230,000 investors for more than $1B+.

The largest telecom company in South Korea (SK Telecom) launched a new crypto wallet. That wallet lets users store tokens and assets (duh) and also comes with ā€œon-chain analysis toolsā€ that can help users with their investment decisions.

The Aptos blockchain suffered a 5-hour outage during its 1-year anniversary. Aptos is a lot like a 21-year-oldā€¦ they both blackout on their birthdays.

MILKY MEMES šŸ¤£

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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.

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