Today's edition is brought to you by Kraken Pro - the one-stop shop for pro traders backed by one of the most trusted names in the industry.

Gm. This is Milk Road. We’re like July 4th falling on a Tuesday - we give you a break from having to work hard.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• The 3 most important graphs in crypto right now 📊

• Use case of the week: loyalty programs & rewards

• Milk Road Pro is 1 week away 🥛

• Voyager’s creditors racked up $5M in legal bills 🍪

THE 3 MOST IMPORTANT GRAPHS IN CRYPTO 📊

1/ NFT blue chips are in the red BIG time

Blue chips are the best of the best in the NFT world...

Bored Apes. Azuki. Doodles.

Well, their floor price is… on the floor. And some NFT collections are the cheapest they’ve been in years…

• Bored Apes is down 88% from April 2022

• Azuki dipped 59% in the past week

So what’s going on? One word - liquidations.

Over the weekend, there were 1,200 liquidations in NFT loans. These are investors that used NFTs as collateral for loans. For comparison, 10-15 liquidations a day are normal.

To make things worse… there aren’t many new buyers.

It’s just the same people holding their same bags.

Until there’s a new catalyst that brings fresh new users, it’s gonna be pain in NFTland.

2/ Bitcoin-only DCA’ers are in that sweet green

Ladies & gents, Bitcoin-only DCA’ers are officially in the green zone.

DCA = Dollar Cost Average. It’s when you invest a fixed amount of money into an asset on set time intervals (i.e. weekly, monthly, etc).

Some investors have been DCA’ing into Bitcoin, every day, over the last few years. (I’ve been DCA’ing into Dunkin’ Donuts coffee).

Now, all of the daily Bitcoin DCA’ers are in the profits.

So what? More investors in the green = bullish sign.

3/ Back-to-back weeks of crypto inflows (boo-yah)

The results from the latest weekly crypto funds flow report are in…

$125M in inflows. That’s the second straight week of weekly inflows, totaling $334M.

Alexa, play Back-to-Back by Drake

So what? Institutional investors are hungry for that crypto exposure, baby.

BlackRock set off a Bitcoin ETF mania. Now everyone wants a piece of the pie.

Now for the million-dollar question… wen Bitcoin ETF?

• BlackRock & others refiled their applications this week to have a better chance of getting that SEC green light

• Cathie Woods’ ARK SEC date is set for August, so we’ll know more then (hopefully)

Until then… we’ll be sitting back and enjoying this inflow streak.

SUPERCHARGE THE WAY YOU TRADE

Powerful. Customizable. Beautiful.

No, I'm not talking about the protein bowl I made for lunch today. I’m talking about the Milk Man’s favorite way to trade crypto.

Meet the all-new Kraken Pro:

• Users have access to an arsenal of new trading and analytics tools, giving traders an edge over other platforms

• The polished user interface is not just pretty, it also allows traders of all experience levels to get started in minutes

• The trading interface is fully-customizable, allowing every user to get the most out of the platform and focus on their strengths

Become a pro and see why the best traders are uniting on Kraken Pro.

Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. Kraken does offer services to residents of Washington or New York.

USE CASE OF THE WEEK 🔨

Here at Milk Road, we like to throw parties. (And they’re Grade-A bangers.)

But in order to get in, you have to know the password.

And instead of a secret code, the password is a crypto use case. gasp

Don’t worry though, we want you at the party so we’re giving you a bunch of use cases.

We’ve talked about tokenized carbon credits, bitcoin mining as a source of heat, and more.

Today, we’re gonna talk about… loyalty programs & rewards.

Now here’s the thing: loyalty & reward programs have been around since The Land Before Time™. And businesses use all different types.

Some use punch cards. Some use apps. Others just remember you.

(Shoutout to Rico, the owner of the local pizza place, for hooking me up whenever he sees me.)

But we’re seeing a few companies experiment with a new strategy.

The New Strategy: put the loyalty program on the blockchain and turn the rewards into digital assets (i.e. an NFT.)

Here are a few of the experiments we’ve seen:

• Starbucks launched Odyssey, a loyalty program that gives out NFTs as rewards. The NFTs unlock stuff like access to special events, discounts, and more. (Plus, they’re tradeable.)

• Lacoste launched UNDW3, a token-gated platform for community members. Loyalty points are put on the blockchain and there’s a leaderboard everyone can see. More points = better rewards (limited edition merch, discounts, etc.)

• Atlas Cafe (a coffeehouse in San Francisco) used NFT rewards to boost customer engagement. The campaign increased visits, overall revenue, and global brand awareness.

• Soapy Joe’s (a carwash in California) launched an NFT campaign to increase activity across all 17 locations. More locations you visit = more NFTs = more rewards. (The results: the number of people visiting multiple sites hit an all-time high and memberships increased by 10%.)

• Harry Styles (a British pop star) dropped blockchain-based rewards to his fans after a concert. 5,000 fans created crypto wallets to claim the rewards.

You can check out a few other examples here.

Plus, it’s been a good way to onboard new users into the space. Trust me, I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.

Quick story time: I’ve tried (and failed) to explain NFTs to my wife for months.

Then, Starbucks dropped the Odyssey program. My wife got her first NFT and sold it for a few hundred bucks.

She actually made more money than me on my first NFT trade so now she’s the “NFT trader of the house”.

But hey, at least she went from laughing at me → laughing with me [to the bank].

And the more companies & brands that implement blockchain loyalty programs and NFT rewards, the easier it’ll be to onboard the next million users.

T-MINUS 1 WEEK UNTIL MILK ROAD PRO 🥛

It feels like Christmas Eve over at Milk Road. Excitement is in the air and the Milk Man is having trouble sleeping.

Why? Milk Road Pro’s launch is less than a week away.

That’s right, Roaders. Milk Road Pro goes live on July 10th.

Here’s what Pro members can expect:

• Market insights and deep dives from Milk Road’s research team 🕵️

• Weekly recaps on everything happening in the space ⏪

• Airdrop guides and walkthroughs on all things crypto 🪂

• Quarterly funding breakdown, monthly NFT reports, and much more to come 💰

And we come bearing gifts.

Early subscribers will receive 50% off their first 3 months when they sign up early! We’ll be sharing the exclusive link soon. Stay tuned…

P.S. - the daily, free newsletter isn’t going anywhere. Milk Road Pro is a new product we’re building out.

MILK & COOKIES 🍪

Voyager Digital’s creditors have racked up $5M+ in legal bills, with one New York law firm’s hourly rate sitting at $1,026. #AlwaysBeBilling

Cameron Winklevoss (cofounder of crypto lender Gemini) made a final offer demanding $1.47B from Barry Silbert (CEO of DCG.) The feud continues…

Bitcoin Depot just became the first crypto ATM operator to be listed on the NASDAQ. Its shares surged 11.7% after its Monday trading debut.

Revolut (fintech company) stopped offering Solana, Cardano, & Polygon to U.S. customers this week after the SEC labeled those tokens securities. Anotha one…

MILKY MEMES 🤣

HIT THE INBOX OF 250K+ CRYPTO INVESTORS

Advertise with Milk Road to get your brand in front of the Who's Who of crypto. The Roadies are high-income crypto investors who are always looking for their next interesting product or tool. Get in touch today.

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.