GM. This is the Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that never spoils. (Despite the name)

Here's what we got for ya today:

• The Milk Roaders Index

• Case Study: Big Brands & NFTs

• Numbers of the Day

• Meme of the day

INTRODUCING THE MILK ROADERS INDEX

There are 3 certainties in life: death, taxes, and the Milk Road including the Fear & Greed Index in every single edition. 

It’s a cool way to gauge how the market “feels” every day. 

• The score is ONE number (today's score is 28, fear) 

• What do scores mean? 1 = extreme fear, 100 = extreme greed

• How is it calculated? A whole bunch of surveys, data, skills, and Concentrated Power Of Will™️

There's only one problem with it: it's from the general internet.  And we think Milk Road readers are just better than that - you're smarter, better looking, and just downright more interesting.

That's why we’re creating the Milk Roaders Index. So we wanna know… how are you feeling about the markets right now?

a/ extreme fear - “Help mommy, I’m scared!”

b/ fear - I’m sleeping with the nightlight on during times like these

c/ neutral - call me Switzerland

d/ greed - Lovin’ the discounts! Keep em comin’

e/ extreme greed - Fear isn’t in my vocab. I feast while others diet

Reply to this email with your answer and we’ll add it to tomorrow's edition as the first-ever Milk Roaders Index. Plus you’ll get to say you were part of the first one. 

NIKE IS THE KING OF BIG BRAND NFTS

Big brands are all jumping on the NFT hype. They're dropping collections like it was the new fidget spinner. 

Some have done well. Others, not so much.

So, it got us thinking… How well are they actually performing? Has it been a success or a major flop?

We found a Dune dashboard with all the data: 

1/ Nike’s on top. And they did one thing differently than everyone else: they acquired an already successful NFT company, RTFKT.

• Nike acquired RTFKT in December 2021 for an undisclosed amount (rumored to be $100m+)

• Before the acquisition, RTFKT had done $70m in total sales volume and $4m in revenue

• Since the acquisition, RTFKT has done $1.2b in total sales volume and $185m in revenue

If Nike bought RTFKT for only $100m, it's a killer acquisition that's already almost paid for itself twice in 8 months 🤯

2/ Tiffany & Co are making power moves.

• $12.6m in total revenue (3rd most)

• 1 collection with 250 NFTs. Other brands have done multiple collections with 1k+ NFTS (Nike has 14 collections)

• Only 74 secondary sales. Every other brand has seen at least 2k secondary sales

How have they been so successful with such little work? Simple - Team up with a top-tier project (CryptoPunks) and sell high-end jewelry for $50k/piece.

This is textbook "play smart, not hard."

3/ Over half the brands have seen less than $10m in secondary sales volume.

• $10m sounds like a lot... but that’s peanuts compared to other projects. It doesn't even rank in the top 400 NFT collections

• Projects like Toy Boogers, Mcgoblinwtf, and Pixl Pets have all done more volume. Yes, those are real project names.

The Milk Road's Take:  Numbers don't lie! (or they lie less).

Every big brand wants to drop an NFT, but so far most of the experiments haven't delivered like they'd expect.

NUMBERS OF THE DAY

$10M  = total bonuses being offered to hire a new Head Chef (aka CEO) of SushiSwap. And no, Sushiswap isn’t a sushi spot in the metaverse.

It’s a popular DeFi protocol. Here are the details:

• 12-month contract - 6 months’ severance

• 700k USDC as base salary

• $10m in total bonuses; depends on how well the price of $SUSHI does over the 12 months

$9m = total outflows in this week's crypto funds report. That’s back-to-back weeks of funds selling more crypto than buying. 

Here are the main highlights:

• 2nd lowest weekly volume all year. Either investors are just waiting it out on the sidelines or they're out sipping margaritas on the beach to close out the summer 

• Bitcoin sees $15m in outflows

• Ethereum sees $3m in inflows. Not much, but that’s 9 straight weeks of inflows totaling $162m

TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY NYFW

There’s one week I always look forward to - Fashion Week. It’s the only week where it's acceptable to wear whatever you want.

It’s called fashion, look it up. 

This year, there’s a little crypto twist - NYFW and Afterpay are teaming up to launch Keys to NYFW. It’s an NFT, with actual utility.

Holders get:

• NYFW runway seats

• Exclusive afterparty invites

• Limited edition designer collectibles

• free 6 month TIDAL subscription + other utilities

It's only $100, so pretty sure it'll pay for itself.

PLUS: All proceeds from mint go to Free Arts NYC, a charity that gives young creatives free access to arts & mentoring programs.

That’s right, you get a front-row seat to the show AND get to give back to the community.

Head across to keys.nyfw.com for full terms & mint now. Questions? Say hi in Discord.

MEME OF THE DAY

MEET US AT WEB3SF FO' FREE!

Milk Road Rule #8: Follow the builders. 

This week, Shaan is doing just that at Web3SF where he's breaking down everything Web3 in a keynote speech.  

Web3SF is a 2-day event where some of the brightest are getting together in downtown SF to chop it up all things web3.

It's free and if you snap a picture with Shaan and send it to us we might just send you one of our first-ever Milk Road shirts.  Trust us, you're gonna want one of these bad boys.

Register here and we'll see you there!

That's a wrap for today. Stay thirsty and see ya tomorrow!

If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

Vitalik might be merging Ethereum next month. But this month he's busy merging cultures. Amazing.

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.