Today’s edition is brought to you by 5ire - a sustainable Layer 1 blockchain ecosystem with dual chain capabilities, EVM compatibility, and a unique SPoS consensus for real-world impact, offering a broad spectrum of technological capabilities and developer support.

Check out 5ire’s Perfect Recipe: Sustainability x Blockchain x RWA x AI.

GM. This is Milk Road. We serve up crypto news like your favorite snack - always hits the spot.

It's Friday. Prices are green. Life is good in the crypto hood.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• The best/worst performing narratives in crypto this year 📊

• Bitcoin ETFs are breaking records 🥇

• Meet the new Solana NFT king 👑

• BTC-adjacent stocks are pumping BIG TIME 🍪

THE BEST/WORST PERFORMING NARRATIVES IN CRYPTO THIS YEAR 📊

Crypto’s like my 4-year-old nephew. Every week, he wants to be something new when he grows up…

One day it’s a soccer pro. The next day it’s an astronaut. Now, he just wants to be a garbage man. (respect)

Crypto’s similar. It has a ton of different narratives right now. 

Real World Assets (RWAs). DePIN. GameFi. You name it. 

They’ve all been called “crypto’s next big thing” at one point. But let’s look at the numbers. 

These have been the best/worst performing narratives this year:

• Best: A.I. (+60%), RWAs (+53%)

• Worst: Parallel EVM (-46%), Privacy (-28%)

P.S. - you can check out how the rest of the narratives stack up below.

BITCOIN ETFS ARE BREAKING RECORDS 🥇

The first Bitcoin ETFs launched in the U.S. about a month ago. 

They’re newborns. Fresh out of the oven. And if you’ve been around a newborn, you know…

The first month is the ugliest. Literally. We all look like alien bobbleheads when we’re born. 

But after a few years (some take longer than others) we transform into the smart, good-looking, strong-necked people we are today. 

Well, according to Eric Balchunas (ETF guru from Bloomberg), the Bitcoin ETFs had an unprecedented first month:

• 5,535 ETFs have been launched over the last 30 years.

• BlackRock ($IBIT) and Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETFs (FBTC) had the best first-month performances out of any ETF launch. Period. 

• Ark Invest ($ARKB) and Bitwise’s ETFs ($BITB) are also in the top 25 best-performing ETFs ever. 

Here’s how the rest of the leaderboard rounds out:

According to Eric, it usually takes a newborn ETF 5-10 years to get close to the top of the leaderboard… it took Bitcoin ETFs less than a month. 

The rookie is putting up MVP numbers.

THERE’S A NEW SOLANA NFT KING 👑

Here’s a crazy stat for you…

Tensorswap’s market share on Solana NFT marketplaces has quietly jumped from 0% → 70%

The craziest part? The Tensor Takeover took less than a year to happen. 

A few takeaways:

• The first-mover advantage helps but doesn’t guarantee a win. Solanart and Magic Eden both came first, but are barely in the conversation now. 

• Competition is good for end users. There have been 3 different #1 Solana NFT marketplaces over the last 3 years. This forces them to stay on top of their game and continuously make their products better. 

We’ll see if Tensor can keep up its dominance.

HELP THE MILK MAN DELIVER 🥛

We are hiring a part-time writer to help us amp up the calcium for all things Milk Road.

We're looking for writers passionate about crypto and with plenty of experience in the space.

If this sounds like you, what are you waiting for? Fill out the form here.

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Bakkt is an institutional provider of crypto services including custody, trading, and onramps. Spun out of ICE, the parent organization of the New York Stock Exchange, Bakkt offers solutions for large businesses and institutions looking to provide crypto services to their customers. Read our Bakkt review here!

Bitcoin-adjacent stocks like MicroStrategy and Coinbase are pumping. Bitcoin mining firms like CleanSpark (CLSK) and Marathon Digital (MARA) are also up big over the last week. (Milk Road Rule #82: if you’re gonna invest in the gold, might as well invest in the shovels too).

Kraken and OKX are the latest crypto exchanges to enter new markets. Kraken has obtained regulatory approval in the Netherlands, and OKX is entering the Argentine market with a new trading and staking platform. 

White hat hackers have publicly netted $640K in bug bounties over the last year. Magic Eden ($83K), MetaMask ($76K), and Hedera Hashgraph ($68K) paid out the most. 

Worldcoin’s Orb will be used to verify the identities of e-sports players. Community Gaming, a blockchain-based esports tournament platform, is integrating Worldcoin’s World ID to weed out cheaters. 

Shrapnel (blockchain-based first-person shooting game) is giving away $100K in crypto for playing this week. Developers say they have ~$3M to incentivize players to try out the game, the first $100,000 is going out this weekend. 

MILKY MEMES 🤣

RATE TODAY’S EDITION

ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

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.