Today’s edition is brought to you by Ryze - a non-custodial binary options platform leveling the playing field for all traders.

Score a bonus trade when you open your first position!

GM. This is Milk Road. We serve plates of crypto news so good it’ll leave you asking for seconds. 

To all our Americans: Happy Thanksgiving! 

Don’t forget the #1 Rule of The Road for today… eating your body weight in food is not only accepted, it’s expected. (Pro tip: wear the stretchy pants) 

To all our non-Americans: Happy…Thursday! (Ha, suckers)

We’re keeping today’s edition light and easy to digest. Gotta make room for that fourth slice of pie later.

Here’s today’s menu:

• 4 quick hitters from Twitter ⚡️

• Presenting… The Milk Road Award categories 🏆

• Another day, another $100M crypto hack 🍪

4 QUICK HITTERS FROM TWITTER ⚡️

1/ BINANCE SEES $1B+ IN NET OUTFLOWS AFTER CZ STEPS DOWN

It’s been 24 hours since…

• CZ stepped down as Binance CEO.

• Binance got fined over $4B by the U.S. government.

In that time, Binance saw $1.2B in net outflows. Aka money leaving the exchange. 

Well, over the last 24 hours, a few other exchanges like OKX, Kraken, etc. have seen net inflows. 

Everyone knows the rules… one exchange’s pain is another exchange's gain. 

2/ THE SEC IS MEETING WITH BIG NAME FIRMS TO DISCUSS A SPOT BITCOIN ETF

James Seyffart is:

• An analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. 

• An expert on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). 

• One of the guys who “breaks the news” for anything related to spot Bitcoin ETFs. 

He’s like Woj for the NBA. Or Adam Schefter for the NFL. Or TMZ for all the Hollywood drama.

Well, here’s the latest big news:

It looks like the SEC is having multiple meetings with big-name players (like Grayscale, BlackRock, NASDAQ, etc.) to talk about launching a spot Bitcoin ETF. 

“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when”. 

3/ MT. GOX REPAYMENTS STARTING SOON

Mt. Gox was a famous Japanese crypto exchange. 

• At its peak, it was handling ~70% of all Bitcoin.

• 850,000 BTC was stolen from the exchange back in 2014. (that’s ~$32B at yesterday’s prices)

• The exchange suspended all activity and filed for bankruptcy a few days later. R.I.P. 

Mt. Gox eventually recovered ~140,000 BTC. And for 9 (long ass) years, creditors have been waiting to get some of their money back. 

It looks like that time might finally be here. According to a few Twitter users, Mt. Gox creditors received an email saying that repayments would (hopefully) start by the end of 2023 and continue into 2024.

Why this matters: A bunch of “lost” bitcoin will be returning to the market. And it’s a Red Pill – Blue Pill decision for investors on the receiving end…

Red Pill: Sell for a big profit.  When Mt. Gox happened, BTC was worth ~$600. 

Today, BTC is ~$37k (a 61x return). Some people fear this could add some sell pressure to Bitcoin. 

Blue Pill: HODL. They’ve been waiting 9 crazy long years, might as well keep holding, right?

It’ll be interesting to see what people choose…. 

4/ DEFILLAMA HAS ITS OWN GPT NOW

Last week, we talked about our Milk Road On-Chain Toolkit. 

These are tools that we use for stuff like analyzing data, protecting our assets, and feeling out market sentiment. 

They’re all bookmarked and used daily. (Yup. Every. Damn. Day). 

One of those tools was DefiLlama. It’s a DeFi analytics platform that shows you stuff like: 

• total value locked (TVL) across different blockchains and protocols.

• liquid staking metrics.

• upcoming token unlocks, and more.

Well, check it out. One of our Milk Road Friends and long-time readers, Kofi, built a custom GPT for DefiLlama. 

Now instead of manually researching data, you can ask the GPT to do it for you. 

Btw, we dropped the ball and forget to include a poll at the end of our on chain toolkit guide.

So now we wanna hear from you, Roaders:

THERE’S ONE WORD THAT INVESTORS FEAR

One minute, prices are soaring and you’re shopping around for private islands. 

The next minute, prices are crashing and you’re asking Mom if your childhood room is still available.

That’s right. The word is volatility.

Well, what if I told you there’s a way to profit from all the volatility? 

With Ryze, you can speculate on short-term price movements using on-chain binary options with low fees and fixed payouts.

• Binary options let users bet fixed amounts of money on price shifts within short intervals (i.e. 1, 3, or 5-minute intervals)

• Users can predict whether prices go up or down within that time frame

• If the prediction is correct, the user wins 2x the amount they bet, and if the prediction is wrong, they get nothing

Since you’re here, Ryze is giving out a free bonus trade when you open your first position. 

Warning: volatility trading can be exhilarating, profits are awesome, BUT it also comes with risks. Remember to always Do Your Own Research (DYOR).

PRESENTING: THE MILK ROAD AWARD CATEGORIES 🏆

Last week, we announced our end-of-the-year Milk Road Awards.

We also opened up the award categories for nominations from you, Roader Nation.

Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… *drumroll*…

THE MILK ROAD AWARD CATEGORIES

• Most Valuable Protocol (MVP): the blockchain of the year.

• Comeback Player of the Year: a crypto project that was stuck in a 6-foot deep hole, but climbed its way out.

• Exchange of the Year: the exchange that is least likely to steal your money.

• DAO of the Year: the DAO that actually did something useful, and wasn’t just a buzzword.

• Crypto Wallet of the Year: it’s so easy, your grandpa can use it.

• Altcoin of the Year: the best-performing token, NOT named BTC or ETH.

• NFT Project of the Year: it’s not your average JPEG.

Now, we’re ready for Round 2: company/project nominations. We’ll be compiling nominees and open voting early next month.

Hit “reply” to this email to submit your nominees for each category!

BITE-SIZED COOKIES 🍪

Harpie is seamlessly protecting crypto investors from hacks and exploits. Built directly into your wallet, Harpie warns users about malicious transactions and in some cases, has even been able to recover stolen funds. Check out our review of their platform!

HTX and Heco Bridge were hacked for $100M. HTX withdrawals and deposits have been temporarily suspended, and all losses will be covered by the exchange. 

Chainalysis and KPMG Canada are teaming up to fight crypto fraud and exploits.  Through the partnership, KPMG will aim to provide advanced blockchain monitoring, support, governance, and risk management for its clients. 

Genesis is suing Gemini to recover $689M in funds. Genesis alleges that Gemini made preferential transfers of an "aggregate gross amount of no less than approximately $689,302,000" at the expense of other creditors.

CoinGecko has acquired Zash (an NFT data startup). CoinGecko plans to incorporate Zash's NFT data into its platform by the second quarter of next year.

MILKY MEMES 🤣

RATE TODAY’S EDITION

ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

WANT TO SPONSOR THIS NEWSLETTER?

Over 250,000 subscribers are throwing a party, and your brand is invited!

Tap into our network of savvy (and good-looking) crypto & Web3 enthusiasts who are eager to learn and invest.

Your Brand + Our Crypto Clan = Magic Waiting To Happen. RSVP to the party!

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.