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GM. This is Milk Road, the newsletter that knows how to have a good time. 🍻

(You’ll get it when you read the first story.)

Here’s what we got for you today:

• ✍️ The rise of Berachain

• ✍️ Use case of the week

• 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: 10 Bullish Takeaways from DAS (And Why Now Is the Time to Buy) w/ Yano

• 🍪 Inflation data comes in higher than expected

THE RISE OF BERACHAIN 🐻

Raul (our intern) tagged along when we flew out to TOKEN2049 in Singapore last October.

I was pumped to make actual connections at the conference. But Raul? He was just there for the parties.

And the wildest one we ended up at? It was thrown by Berachain - a new layer 1 that runs on Proof-of-Liquidity (PoL). 

(I won’t bore you with the details of PoL so just click on that link if you wanna nerd it out.)

Now fast forward to Feb 6th, 2025, when Berachain launched:

• Its mainnet

• Its primary token $BERA.X ( ▲ 7.05% )

I didn't bother paying attention at the time because I wrote them off as just a bunch of party animals (like Raul). 

But with $BERA up 37% in the last 14 days, I had to check if there’s actual metrics backing it up. 

To my surprise, I found quite a few charts that were worth sharing. 👇

1/ Berachain had the highest net inflows in the past 30 days (out of all chains!)

And if you want to look at year-to-date (YTD) flows, it sits at #2 just behind Base. 

2/ Its DEX trading volume hit an all-time-high (ATH) yesterday

$172M might not be a mind-blowing number, but it’s a good sign that it’s trending upwards. 

3/ It ranks #6 across all chains in terms of TVL!

It’s been live for less than 2 months and it’s already overtaken heavyweights like Base & Arbitrum. 

Now, the charts above, paired with $BERA's recent price action, have definitely got me off my seat. But I wouldn’t crown it the “next big thing” just yet.

Blockchains often see a spike in activity right after their mainnet launches—thanks to a flood of new apps (DEXs, lending protocols, etc.) handing out airdrops and/or other incentives to attract users.

We saw the same thing with Blast last year—everyone piled in for the potential airdrops and now, they’re nowhere to be seen. 

Not saying Berachain will follow the same path… but it’s definitely something to keep in mind.

That being said, there are two big takeaways from this story:

• Always be skeptical of hype 

• Raul definitely knows how to have a good time 🍻

USE CASE OF THE WEEK 👀

Alright, this is my last story with all of you before Chevy returns. So, let’s end it with something nice and easy. 

Let’s dive into something Tyler (our GM) knows all too well: Having a bunch of Pokemon cards but no friends to trade with. 

The solution to this problem? Courtyard. 

And judging by the numbers, their business seems to be booming 👇

Here’s how Courtyard works:

• You own a Pokemon card

• You mint it onchain and send it to Courtyard

• Courtyard stores the physical card in a secure vault.

• As long as you hold the NFT, you own the card.

• Once you sell the NFT? The new owner gets the rights to the card—but doesn’t receive the physical copy.

Here’s where it gets really cool: If you want the actual card in your hands, you can burn the NFT and have it shipped straight to your door.

And just like that, Courtyard isn’t just making Pokemon card trading global—it’s making it more trustless.

Because right now, if you’re buying a card online, you have to trust:

• That the seller actually owns the card and isn’t scamming you

• That the condition is what they claim (because no one wants to pay for "mint" and get something that’s barely held together with tape)

With Courtyard, all these issues are fixed:

• The NFT itself is proof of ownership. Plain and simple. 

• The NFT verifies the card’s condition so what you see is what you get. 

• You can also check the full history of the card (“why has it been traded 10 times in a year? That seems sus.”)

And right now, Courtyard is only doing this with Pokemon, baseball, and basketball cards—but this model could easily be extended to other stuff like:

• Luxury watches

• Rare pieces of art

• Precious metals like gold & silver

This trend is definitely picking up but we’re yet to see it explode. 

But one thing is for sure: Blockchain tech is accelerating how we trade RWAs (whether it’s a $5 Pokemon card or a $5 billion money market fund). 

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Book a call, get a slot, and learn from CoinAvenueCapital. That’s all you gotta do to learn from the guys who caught $PEPE on day 1 (P.S. there’s only 11 spots left, so hurry and book a call).*

SEC drops charges against Crypto(dot)com. Are we finally entering a new era where the government isn’t out to kill crypto? Feels weird… but I’m not complaining.

Inflation is back on the rise. February’s Core PCE data has come in higher than expected. Macro conditions still aren’t giving us the green light just yet.

Tether just minted $1B USDT on Tron. Tron has been somewhat of a leader when it comes to stablecoins and now, they’re just doubling down on it.

No more signing every transaction on Jupiter! Their latest update cuts out extra clicks per trade. It’s just a small tweak, but a big win for UX.

Wanna grab a coffee with Milk Road? We’re hosting a meetup at ETH Bucharest where you can hang with fellow crypto enthusiasts!

*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.