GM. This is the Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that adds so much color & flavor you might just taste the rainbow. 

Now let's get into the good stuff:

• Numbers of the day

• The Ethereum Bellatrix upgrade goes live

• Time's up for Biden's executive order on crypto

• Meme of the day

NUMBERS OF THE DAY

4150 - total metaverse trademarks have been filed this year. That’s more than 2x as many as all of 2021 combined (1866). 

Here are 3 interesting companies that filed this week:

• Ford filed trademarks for virtual cars/vans, clothing and an NFT marketplace

• Sony Music filed trademarks for NFT-backed media - including art & music NFTs

• Hermès (luxury brand) filed trademarks for NFTs, virtual currencies, virtual clothing & footwear

$9.2m - total inflows for the recent Weekly Crypto Funds Report. Breaking a 3-week streak of outflows.

Here are the highlights:

• Bitcoin shorting saw inflows of $18m - a weekly record. Investors continue to bet against the price of Bitcoin, bringing a year total to $158m

• Ethereum sees $2.1m in outflows. That’s back-to-back weeks of outflows

• Altcoins see $3.3m in outflows. Solana and Avalanche led the way for those investments

23,893,844 NFTs have been sold on Ethereum. (ERC-721s).

Of those, only 164 NFT collections currently have a floor price of over 1ETH (~$1.5k).

That’s only 0.58%. We weren't kidding when we said 99% of NFTs would be worthless. It's more like 99.4%.

So we’re making a ranking system for some of those collections and calling it the Milk Road NFT2k22 ratings. If you’re interested, reply to this email with “show me the NFT2k22 ratings!”

THE ETHEREUM BELLATRIX UPGRADE GOES LIVE

Ethereum had a big day yesterday. And no, it wasn’t another Vitalik Gone Viral pic.

The Bellatrix upgrade went live. This was the last major upgrade before the Merge happens and Ethereum finally moves from proof-of-work --> proof-of-stake.

You smell that…? That’s the smell of some Grade A, all-natural Stake that’s been marinating for years.

So how’d the Bellatrix upgrade go? Pretty good! Except there was one small hiccup where a spike in "missed block rate" happened (aka some transactions failed on the first try).

Developers say it's most likely because not all network operators made the necessary updates. In fact, only ~77% of all nodes are "Merge-ready". Whoops!

But don’t worry. This only really matters for people running Ethereum nodes.

All of us normies don’t need to do anything except wait for the Merge to happen & enjoy the show.

Btw, if anyone tells you that you need to do something with your ETH before the Merge it's most likely a scam! 

TODAY'S EMAIL IS SPONSORED BY DRAFTKINGS

Everyone knows what time it is - it’s fantasy football SZN.

I just finished saying goodbye to the fam and told them I’d see them again in 4 months when the season was over. Needless to say, we’re in it to win it this year.

And this year I’m trying something new… DraftKings Reignmakers. It’s where fantasy football meets NFTs.

Here’s how it works:

• Trade & collect NFT player cards (officially licensed by the NFLPA) to build your dream team

• Enter weekly tournaments to compete for money, NFTs packs, merch, and more

• $1M+ in cash prizes every week

It’s the next generation of fantasy football and we’re hyped to get in on the action with football starting soon. We’re gonna make it rain $$ with Reignmaker.

Wanna join? Click here to start your Reignmakers team and claim your FREE pack.

Legal Disclaimer: Must be at least 18 years or older. Higher age limits may apply in some states. Not available in HI, ID, LA (select parishes), MT, NV, OR, and WA. No purchase is required for Starter Packs (1 per customer). Reignmaker Starter Pack NFTs are ineligible for resale. The number of NFTs needed to fill the roster varies by contest. Prizes include real money. Winning a contest on DraftKings depends on knowledge and exercise of skill. Contest eligibility depends on NFTs held. Not a gambling website. For entertainment purposes only. See www.icrg.org for information regarding responsible gaming. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com/reignmakers.

TIME'S UP FOR BIDENS EXECUTIVE ORDER ON CRYPTO

180 days. That’s how long Biden gave for his Executive Order on crypto back in March. 

Well, ladies & gents, times up. That means we could have some regulations comin’ soon.

The goal was simple: get every relevant Federal agency to understand and develop policy positions that understand and address the risks of crypto.

It was one of the largest government-wide crypto projects ever and some agencies were given specific things to research like:

• Crypto's role in energy transitions 

• If, and how, digital assets could be used to help the U.S economy

• What the role of law enforcement agencies in “detecting, investigating, and prosecuting criminal activity related to digital assets" should be

This is pretty big - no more living in the shadows. 

Having clear government guidelines will unlock mass adoption and make big players comfortable with playing bigger games.

Hopefully Biden included this in the Executive Order too...

MEME OF THE DAY

😂😂

That's a wrap for today, ladies & gents. Stay thirsty & see ya tomorrow!

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

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.