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GM. This is Milk Road. The newsletter that’s like a fresh bottle of Snapple – every time you open one, you learn something new.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• ✍️ “Prime Minister" Justin Sun?

• ✍️  $BTC ETFs vs. Gold ETFs

• 🥛 Milk Road PRO Portfolio updates

• 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: This Is How It Starts! Bitcoin ETF Capturing Billions Per Week w/ Lark Davis

• 🍪 Avalanche Foundation launches a new crypto card

JUSTIN SUN JUST BECAME PRIME MINISTER OF A EUROPEAN NATION (KIND OF) 🤨

“Dude, bro – we should, like, buy a plot of land somewhere and, like, form our own egalitarian government – and only transact in crypto n’ stuff.”

Is this:

1. A conversation we overheard around 4 am at Burning Man?

   OR

2. The ethos of a very real micronation being founded in a stretch of forest between Croatia and Serbia?

You are correct. Both answers are true.

But today we’ll be focusing on the latter (what happens at Burning Man, stays at Burning Man). This is “The Free Republic of Liberland” 👇

Here’re the cliff notes on this burgeoning micronation:

• It has voluntary taxes

• It’s just 7 square kilometers in size

• It has a population of ~1000 people

• Its court and governance system is run onchain

• Elections take place – get this – every three months

• Has onchain passports tied to individuals’ digital identity

• NFTs act as proof of land ownership, assets, and citizenship

• The Liberland Dollar ($LLD) stablecoin is used as local currency

• Only those staking Liberland Merit (LLM) tokens can vote in elections

• Has been permanently inhabited since 2023, mostly by campers and folks living on boats

• It is not recognized by the UN, but has signed agreements with several nations such as Argentina and El Salvador, and has ambitions to grow into a fully functioning state

Now, here’s the kicker:

Its Prime Minister? None other than Tron founder, Justin Sun – which, depending on which corner of the internet you hang out in, either adds or detracts credibility to the whole endeavor.

Ok, ok, but how is it that some collective is able to buy a piece of land, and just claim that it’s a sovereign state?

Well, anyone can do that. You could make the same claim about your apartment…

The real question is: will anyone take you seriously?

(Probably not).

Same goes for Liberland – Argentina and El Salvador have recognized the state, sure – but the likelihood of other nations following suit?

We’re not holding our breath.

THE $BTC VS. GOLD ETF CHARTS ARE WRONG. THERE, WE SAID IT. 😰

For the love of god…

Can someone PLEASE do a wellness check on Peter Schiff.

This guy has been publicly bearish on $BTC, and bullish on gold for the past decade or so…and now, this:

The Bitcoin ETFs have already pulled in 14.2x more investor dollars than the Gold ETFs did in their first year of activity.

…but are they really performing that well?

Cause here’s the thing…

When Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) launch, they begin to soak up a certain percentage of money in the world…

But in 2004 (when the Gold ETFs launched) the world was very different. For starters, you couldn’t simply open a mobile app and purchase stocks – and more importantly – there was less money sloshing around global markets.

This is represented by the ‘US M2 Money Supply’ — which is just nerd talk for “the total amount of money stored in bank accounts in the US” (or better yet, “how much spending money US investors have available”).

In 2004, the M2 supply sat at $6.42T – with the Gold ETFs absorbing ~$1.5B – or 0.023% of M2.

Meanwhile, in 2024, M2 money supply is now sitting at $21.17T, and the Bitcoin ETFs have so far absorbed $21.33B worth of it – or 0.101% of M2.

So once you adjust for the change in M2 money supply, Bitcoin’s outperformance of Gold ETFs in their first year gets lowered from 14.2x to 4.39x 👇

Not as crazy – but still damn impressive!

…either way, someone should still check on Peter Schiff.

MILK ROAD PRO PORTFOLIO UPDATES 📊

Can you feel it?

…the impending victory lap? The moment we can throw our hands up and celebrate the fact that our portfolio is running at a profit!

We’re not there just yet — but we’re on our way, running just shy of a 5% loss.

ICYMI: like clock-work, every Tuesday, we share our updated list of investments from the Milk Road PRO Portfolio. 

Disclosure: We are not a day trading portfolio so don’t expect a high volume of trades. Read our “how to build a crypto portfolio in 2024” report to learn more about our portfolio strategy.

Portfolio performance 📈

The Milk Road PRO Portfolio saw a modest increase over the past 7 days. Our portfolio value is at $95.5K, up 4.04% since last week.

We’re up another 4%! It might seem like a small gain, but savvy investors know the power of compounding. Just think—if we keep growing by 4% every week, where will we be in 3 or 12 months?

• After 3 months, we’d be up 66%.

• After 12 months, we’d be up a whopping 668%.

So, celebrate every positive week and remember, those compounding effects can really add up over time!🥳

Portfolio changes 👀

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

ARCrypto, a leading online DeFi education program, is hosting a free webinar with experienced DeFi coaches. This webinar will focus on various DeFi tools and strategies and how to make the most out of them.*

Avalanche Foundation has launched a Visa crypto card allowing users to spend cryptocurrencies like $USDC, $WAVAX, and $sAVAX anywhere Visa is accepted. The card is linked to a self-custody wallet and will be available initially to residents in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sky, formerly known as Maker, is considering reverting to its original brand name. The founder has presented the community with three potential options, and a decision on the project’s branding will be made after community input and voting.

After raising revenue in Solana tokens, Pump.fun sold over 40,000 $SOL today, valued at $6.6 million. It’s reported that Pump.fun still holds $47.9 millions worth of Solana tokens which could potentially add sell pressure to $SOL.  

Institutional interest in Bitcoin futures continues to surge, with open interest on CME hitting an all-time high of $12.26 billion. Activity on CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) is often used an proxy for institutional interest in crypto.

*this is sponsored content and not financial advice

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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.