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- đ„ The state of crypto in 5 graphs đ
đ„ The state of crypto in 5 graphs đ
PLUS: UFC fighting gloves are getting tokenized đ„
Todayâs edition is brought to you by Cross Finance â the lovechild of the global economy, bringing together banking and crypto into one big, happy ecosystem.
GM. This is Milk Road. Where we decode the crypto market like a toddler (somehow) cracks your phone password â with ease.
Hereâs what we got for you today:
The state of crypto in 5 graphs đ
Use case of the week: UFC fighting gloves are getting tokenized đ„
How to invest in crypto narratives đ°
Bitcoin ETFs see outflows for the 3rd straight day đȘ
THE STATE OF CRYPTO IN 5 GRAPHS đ
CoinGecko dropped its latest Crypto Industry Report this morning! Thatâs the good newsâŠ
The bad news? Itâs 50 pages long.
But have no fear. Say it with me nowâŠ
Do we read 50-page PDFs? âŠ*points microphone at crowd*... âHell no!â
Do we let the Milk Road Gang read it and summarize it in bullet points? âŠ*points microphone back at crowd*... âHell yeah!â
Alright, here's what caught our attention from the report:
1/ Cryptoâs Top 15 Narratives of Q1
AI, memecoins, and RWAs were the top 3 narratives of the quarter. They captured a combined 1/3 of investor interest.
âGamingâ and the âSolana Ecosystemâ also captured significant attention. Each with more than 5% of investor interest.
New narratives like ERC-404 made their first appearance on the Top 15 list.
3 out of the 49 blockchain ecosystems (Solana, Ethereum, and Base) made it into the top narratives.
Compared to 2023 Q4⊠BRC-20 tokens, NFTs, and the Avalanche ecosystem all saw a decline in interest.
2/ Solana memecoins saw an 800% growth in market cap
The market cap of the Top 10 Solana memecoins grew by $8.3B in Q1. Thatâs a whopping 801.5% increase from 2023 Q4.
Of the Top 10 Solana memecoins, only 2 existed prior to 2023 Q4. The OGs are $BONK and $SAMO.
Fun fact: Close to 5,000 new Solana tokens have been deployed EVERY DAY in the past quarter.
But isnât Solana dead? Weâll answer that question in this weekâs PRO Report where we explain our $SOL price prediction & bull market strategy.
3/ The biggest winners & losers of DeFi wereâŠ
DeFiâs market cap jumped from $78B â $122B in Q1. Thatâs a +49.1% increase from 2023 Q4.
Restaking protocols were the biggest winners, with a +1,068% increase in total value locked (TVL) last quarter.
Yield, derivatives, and farming protocols also saw massive gains and doubled their respective TVLs.
Lending and Collateralized Debt Position (CDP) protocols were the biggest losers of the quarter, as users chose to chase better returns through other avenues.
4/ CEX trading volume hit a multi-year high
The Top 10 centralized exchanges (CEX) record $4.29T in spot trading volume. Thatâs a +95.3% increase from 2023 Q4 and the highest volume recorded since 2021.
Binance is still the top CEX, controlling 50% of the market share.
All the Top 10 CEX saw an increase in trading volume in Q1. Binance grew the most (+122.3%), followed by Bitget (+112.4%) and Bybit (+111.8%).
5/ DEX trading volume increased by 78.4%
Trading volume on decentralized exchanges hit $357.6B in Q1. And March was the most active month ($190B in trading volume) since November 2021.
Ethereumâs share of trading volume on DEXes dropped below 40% - a new all-time low.
Abritrum DEXes saw a big spike at the beginning of the quarter (largely due to its incentive program), but tapered off in March.
The big winner: Base. Its share of the graph went from âI need some binoculars to see that!â â âThere it is!â in a few months.
Milk Roadâs Biggest Takeaways and âNotes-To-Selfâ:
Crypto is still growing at a crazy pace! Trading volumes are up. New narratives are still popping up left & right. Thatâs exciting.
Keep an eye on growing ecosystems, like Base and Arbitrum.
Look into more yield, derivatives, and farming protocols - they doubled their TVL last quarter.
This 50-page pdf could have been an email.
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*Valuable Public Notice: testnet is not available in the US or Canada. More information about the testnet can be accessed by using a VPN or directly on the CrossFi website here: Users & Developers
USE CASE OF THE WEEK: UFC FIGHTING GLOVES ARE GETTING TOKENIZED đ„
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.
(Side note: If you donât watch it - donât worry, I donât blame you. Itâs tough having to explain to my wife why I pay $100 to watch grown men fight in tighty whitiesâŠ)
Anyway, check it out⊠UFC just announced itâs launching new fighting gloves.
Most of the improvements are focused on stuff like comfort, padding, weight, etc, but there was one thing that caught our eyesâŠ
An âauthentication data chipâ. And turns out, itâs powered by the VeChain blockchain.
The gloves have near-field communication (NFC) chips that are connected to VeChain.
The chips will record fight data and provide authenticity - aka buyers will be able to verify the gloves are legit.
The goal? Help prevent fraud in the secondary markets.
The new gloves will debut at UFC 302 (June 1, 2024).
And an initial set of 12 exclusive gloves will be given to âA-listâ celebrities, like Joe Rogan.
Milk Road Take: This is pretty cool and isnât the first time weâve seen a sports x blockchain crossoverâŠ
The Australian Open tokenized its courts into NFTs to create new fan experiences.
LaLiga is using blockchain technology to track âgoal-scoringâ balls and sell them as collectibles.
AC Milan tokenized their soccer field to give fans rewards whenever a big event (i.e. a goal, asset, yellow card, etc) happens on the piece of the field they âownâ.
Itâll be interesting to see what sports adopt the blockchain nextâŠ
HOW TO INVEST IN CRYPTO NARRATIVES đ°
Itâs nearly impossible to be early on every crypto narrative with so many emerging, from memecoins and Bitcoin NFTs to AI Tokens, Base, and RunesâŠ
But, these narratives could be insanely profitable for investorsâif you play your cards right.
On todayâs Milk Road Radio Market Watch episode, we sat down with Zeneca to cover:
How to identify emerging trends
How to allocate capital efficiently
How to maximize your profits with these opportunities
If you want to catch the biggest crypto narratives without getting rekt, this is the episode for you:
Happy halving - Youâve heard about it, now learn about it! ARCrypto invites you to join us this Thursday, April 18th at 11 am EST for a webinar featuring our very own expert, Coach Casey Craig, as she demystifies the halving phenomenon.*
Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows for the third straight day yesterday. GBTC saw the majority of outflows (surprise surprise), while most of the other Bitcoin ETFs saw inflows ranging from ~$1M â ~$4M.
Coinbase and Grayscale will be running crypto ads during the NBA and NHL playoffs. Coinbases will air Wednesday on TNT, ESPN, and ABC during NBA playoff games. Grayscales will air on CNBC, CNN, Golf Network, News Nation, and NHL Network during the playoffs.
Crypto prices dropped after Jerome Powell's speech yesterday. The Fed Chairman hinted that interest rates will have to stay higher for longer after recent data showed the âlack of further progress so far this year on returning to [the] 2% inflation goalâ.
PayPal removed buyer and seller protections for NFTs. Starting on May 20, NFT purchases will no longer be backed by the companyâs buyer protection program. NFT sales worth more than $10,000 will not be protected against false claims and chargebacks.
Homiumâs first tokenized home equity loans went live on Avalanche. As part of securing the loan, homeowners commit a portion of their homeâs price appreciation. For investors, i.e., those funding the loan, they receive a tokenized asset tracking the price appreciation.
*This is sponsored content
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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.