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GM. This is Milk Road, your daily dose of reliable crypto news—because unlike Windows computers, we never crash! 🟦 

Here’s what we got for you today:

• ✍️ Top 3 crypto founders

• 💰 Funding Friday: Special edition

• 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: Are Institutional Investors in Crypto? w/ Dean Skurka.

• 🍪 Ryan Selkis stepped down as Messari's CEO

TOP 3 CRYPTO FOUNDERS 🧑‍💼

We all know that group project slacker, but today we’re shining the spotlight on the MVP—the Scholar. 🧑‍🎓

In the crypto world, memecoins and degens often hog the limelight, but let's not forget the brilliant founders, behind the scenes, spearheading amazing projects. 👷

You might know their names, but do you know their stories? They’re tales of grit, determination, and good old-fashioned hard work.

So grab your cookies and a glass of milk, because the Milk Man is here to serve up some midday stories from the crypto world. 📚

1/ Hayden Adams (Uniswap)

At 24, broke and laid off, Hayden Adams decided to learn Solidity (a programming language on Ethereum) from scratch.

In his free time, he built the 1st working model of Uniswap’s AMM (automated market maker). Yes, in his free time!

With the last of his savings, Adams bought a plane ticket to a conference in South Korea and presented “Uniswap Version 0” to Vitalik.

Next thing you know, Hayden was presenting at his own conferences. 😯

Fast forward 6 years now, Uniswap is the largest DEX (Decentralized Exchange) in the space, setting the stage for hundreds of others. 

Milky Takeaway #1: Instead of organizing your sock drawer, learn a new skill in your free time. It can take you places you never imagined!

2/ Luca Netz (Pudgy)

Homeless for 8 years, Luca Netz was a self-made millionaire by 19! 🤑

Then, he lost 85% of his net worth in just two years. But Luca didn’t give up. He bounced back 10x by the age of 22. 🤯

Today, at 25, he’s worth over $100M & has turned Pudgy Penguins into the largest NFT collection by volume. 👏

Want to hear about what Luca’s working on now? Check this episode of The Milk Road Show where he reveals his plans to onboard the NEXT 100 MILLION users to crypto!

Milky Takeaway #2: Never. Stop. Grinding. 💪

3/ Brian Armstrong (Coinbase)

While working at Airbnb, Armstrong saw firsthand how hard it was to send money to South America.

Inspired, he raised $150K at Y Combinator to start Coinbase in 2012. 

Over 12 years, Coinbase has become a crypto powerhouse with a slew of products:

• Coinbase Exchange: One of the biggest centralized exchanges 💱

• Base: Fastest growing L2 📈

• Coinbase Custody: Primary custodian for most Spot $BTC & $ETH ETFs 💂

Milky Takeaway #3: Find a problem and solve it.

4/ SBF (FTX) 🤣

An ambitious young entrepreneur who took crypto to unexpected places. ⛓️👮

Yup, that’s SBF (Founder of FTX) in a prison lineup after being convicted for fraud. 👀

Milky Takeaway #4: Don’t steal people’s money and you might just stay out of prison…

FUNDING FRIDAY 🤑

It’s Funding Friday time but this week in the newsroom, we were all playing a game of Uno, and then… the Milk Man pulled out a WILD card.

Today’s a nice lil twist with some zoomed out alpha on crypto fundraising. 

Instead of talking about individual project raises, let’s take a peek at some key fundraising metrics by blockchain (S/O to Messari’s recent report: “The State of SCPs”).

Funding on blockchains can be a good indicator of future growth, and future growth could mean token prices go up.

In order to get the full picture, let’s take a look at:

• Total amount raised by blockchain

• Unique projects funded on each blockchain

• Unique investors across blockchains

Grab your snorkel, let’s dive in. 🌊

1/ Total amount raised by blockchain

Here’s the scoop:

• Total amount raised remained flat QoQ (quarter over quarter) at $1B but is up significantly compared to 2023 numbers.

• Ethereum led the pack with $522M in Q2 funding, despite losing a big chuck of the market share. 

• Base funding has grown massively, shooting up to $150M. 🚀

• Polygon seems to be making a comeback with $70M in Q2 2024. 👀

2/ Unique projects funded on each blockchain

Here’s the rundown:

• With a big bump compared to the end of 2023, more than 400 unique projects have raised funds in the past 6 months.

• Ethereum continues to dominate with 88 funded projects, taking a huge bite of the pudding.

• Solana increased 57% compared to last quarter with 47 projects raising funds. 📈

3/ Unique investors across blockchains 

Here’s the lowdown: 

• Only half way through 2024, we’ve already passed the 2023 total for unique investors in crypto projects.

• Ethereum still leads the race for attracting investors in Q2 but Solana and Polygon saw meaningful growth last quarter claiming a 23% and 13% market share respectively.

🥛Milk Road Take: Ethereum is clearly still the big fish in the crypto pond but blockchains like Solana, Polygon and Base are showing large increases in funds raised.

All in all, great to see funding picking up across the board, signalling future growth for crypto as a whole!

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Onchain DEX and liquidity pool data is now accessible via CoinGecko API. Access extensive data for 3 million tokens and counting – including those not listed on CoinGecko!*

Microsoft IT outages hit worldwide after a faulty update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike. This led to major disruptions in multiple sectors. Airports, banks, and even news services were hit by the "Blue Screen of Death." Crowdstrike is now working on a fix to roll back the update.

South Korea's new law aims to protect crypto investors by targeting unfair trading practices and requiring exchanges to safeguard user funds. The law includes measures for cold wallet storage and insurance. This is part of a broader effort to regulate the crypto market and boost investor interest.

The Winklevoss twins are donating $1M in Bitcoin to John Deaton, who aims to unseat Sen. Warren. Deaton is positioned as a pro-crypto candidate in the Massachusetts Senate race. This move underscores the ongoing battle between crypto advocates and regulatory opponents.

Ryan Selkis stepped down as Messari's CEO following a series of inflammatory tweets. His decision came after his political comments put the team at risk. Eric Turner, Chief Revenue Officer, will serve as interim CEO​.

We're looking for a kickass Content Creator to join our team. You'll create the best crypto content in the world. If you have video editing and graphic design skills and love crypto, this is the perfect role for you. Apply here!

*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.