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GM. This is Milk Road, the newsletter that forces you to do jumping jacks to work off all the nervous excitement January is already producing.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• ✍️ January is coming in swinging!

• 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: These 4 Factors Will Drive Crypto Prices Up in 2025 w/ Frank Chaparro 

• 🍪 Bernstein expects Bitcoin ETF inflows to double in 2025

HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS – JANUARY IS COMING IN SWINGING! (P1) 🥊

Feeling rested after the holiday break?

Good, ‘cause we get the feeling you’re going to need all of your strength for the madness that 2025 is promising.

(But like, a good madness. Think: getting day-drunk at DisneyLand with ten of your closest friends and a fistfull of Fast Passes).

Hell – January alone is already shaping up to be a doozy! 

Here’s what’s ahead of us:

1/ Trump’s commitment to the crypto industry faces its first test on Jan 20

America’s first crypto-holding, DeFi-platform-founding president (with the hardest potential album cover of all time) comes into office on the 20th of January, alongside a new pro-crypto SEC chair.

…five days after that? Four Solana ETF applications hit their first deadlines, at which point the SEC will either approve them or deny them!

Now, the reasonable voice in my head is saying: 

“These ones probably won’t be approved on this specific deadline. What’s more likely is the SEC will ask for revisions ahead of the second deadline.”

…but the other (Solana-holding) voice in my head is saying:

“Sweet merciful god above, for the love of all that is good in this world, please, please, please let them pass this on the first deadline. 

Outside of that signed copy of Natalie Imbruglia’s 1997 smash hit, Torn – I really don’t ask for much.”

All will be revealed on Jan 25th I suppose…

2/ 2025 started → the DXY tanked

Now, sharp losses of value are rarely things to be celebrated in the financial world – but in this case, we all get a pass!

The DXY represents the value of the US dollar. If it’s too strong, it means investors have high confidence in the dollar and are less likely to put their money into riskier assets (like crypto).

On the flip side, when the DXY tanks, it means investors are selling their dollars to buy riskier assets in order to sniff out high returns.

See the red line on that chart? 👆

Once we’re back below that, we’ll be back in the ‘safe zone’ – or at least, the ‘safer zone’, where crypto returns flourish more easily.

And if the 2016/2017 bull run is anything to go by (the last time Trump took office) – we should be good.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming, for a quick word from our sponsors!

HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS – JANUARY IS COMING IN SWINGING! (P2) 🥊

Where were we?

Oh yeah – January is shaping up to be a doozy! 

But let’s slow our roll real quick and balance the bullishness out…

3/ MicroStrategy ($MSTR) gets a 38% haircut

ICMYI: MicroStrategy trades at a premium compared to its Bitcoin holdings. 

Sure, it has a software business behind it as well – but for the most part, it’s seen as a way for investors to buy Bitcoin, without actually buying Bitcoin.

But its stock is valued way higher than its Bitcoin treasury (~$45B worth of $BTC compared to its $88B market cap).

Back in late November, we said:

“We think there’s a high likelihood that $MSTR’s 3-5x premium degrades well before a bear market.”

And it looks like that’s happening! $MSTR tumbled down as much as 38% since late November. 👇

That said – we don’t see it as anything to worry about right now ($MSTR was a little overheated tbh).

4/ Jupiter is going to have a big airdrop event in January: “Jupuary”

Need something to bring the mood back up? Say no more. 

If you’ve been using the Jupiter Exchange to trade Solana over the past year, you might be about to get some free money!

Jupiter will drop $625 million worth of $JUP tokens to eligible users sometime in January. 👇

Oh, and get this! Jupiter is also planning to burn 30% of its supply this year – which will be symbolized by…wait for it…

A physical burning ritual of a cat structure on the second day of Jupiter’s January conference in Istanbul. 

God we love this industry.

5/ Aptos, Arbitrum and Jito all have unlocks scheduled this month

If you hold any of the following tokens, brace for potential selling pressure! 👇

6/ If history repeats, January is set to be bullish for $ETH!

The price movement we see for $ETH in January during bull years (heck – all of Q1) is usually up, up, and up some more!

Just look at $ETH’s past performances (it’s beautiful, no? 🥲).

See what we mean now?

You’re going to need all of your strength to get through the madness that seems to be brewing in 2025 – all of this is just for the month of January!

If anyone needs us, we’ll be bulk ordering Gatorade and emergency blankets to stash around our homes. 🫡

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Solana staking lets you lock up $SOL, secure the network, and earn rewards. It’s a win-win for you and the blockchain.

Metaplanet to buy more Bitcoin in 2025. For anyone who thought it’s too late to buy Bitcoin, think again.

Here’s what a bunch of Solana founders think about the crypto space. From their take on memecoins to their favourite app on Solana, this survey’s got a bit of everything.

Bernstein expects Bitcoin ETF inflows to double in 2025. This ETF thing is pretty good for the crypto space, isn’t it? - DL News

We’re hiring! We’re now down to just 3 positions - so hurry before someone beats you to it.

Looking for the best centralized exchange? After the success of our top DEXs page, we’ve put together a similar guide for the top CEXs.

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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.