GM. This is the Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that drops you a little surprise in your inbox every morning. We're the gift that keeps on giving.

Now, for today’s edition:

• How wrong can one man be?

• The Merge has begun

• Quick bites

• Meme of the day

Before we get into the good stuff, you might notice something different about the Index above... there are 2 numbers. And no, we weren't drunk this morning. 

Let me explain. Yesterday we asked you - our smart, good-looking readers - how you were feeling about the markets yesterday.

Well, the results are in:

• 43.5% - Neutral. Call me Switzerland

• 38.5% - Greed. Lovin’ the discounts! Keep em coming

• 12% - Fear. I’m sleeping with the nightlight on

• 4.2% - Extreme Greed. I feast while others diet

• 1.8% - Extreme Fear. “Help mommy, I’m scared!”

So while the rest of the Internet is feeling Fear (25), you're all feeling Neutral (55).

The Milk Roaders are #BuiltDifferent.

HOW WRONG CAN ONE MAN BE?

Check it out. This popular crypto Twitter account (Algod) is trying to turn $50k into $1M+

How? By doing the exact opposite of whatever Jim Cramer says.

He’s currently up 2X.

I love it. He’s got Big Milk Energy (BME). If you want to know what Jim Cramer’s advice is, you can follow: Inverse Cramer. He tells you exactly what Cramer’s saying, so you can do the opposite.

THE MERGE HAS BEGUN

Ladies & gentlemen, the Merge has begun.

And before you get mad and call us liars for telling you the Merge wasn’t happening for another few weeks. That’s also true.

You see, the Merge is set to be finalized around September 15th. But the process is already in motion - the Bellatrix update, the first mainnet software update, was just released.

• It’s an important update and without it, there will be configuration errors

• All Ethereum validator nodes will need to make the update before September 6th

So how’d Day 1 go? We won't lie. There were a few hiccups and a bug that was causing some errors. It was a rough first day at school.

Luckily, the team figured it out and fixed the bug within a few hours. Everything looks like it's working again.

But just as a precaution, the Ethereum Foundation has decided to go big on Bug Bounties. Rewards are being 4x'ed for helping find any more bugs ahead of the Merge.

Smart move.

The Milk Road’s Take: Sucks to have problems on the first day, but luckily it was all figured out pretty quickly.

We have faith in Big V and the rest of the devs. 21 days left.

Btw, this Dune chart is great. We’re using it to track everything to do with the Merge - countdown, how much ETH is being staked, etc.

MASTERCARD IS TEAMING UP WITH BINANCE

Mike is the CEO of Mastercard.

Mike posted this on LinkedIn yesterday. It’s an announcement for a partnership with Binance that will let people use crypto to pay for stuff at 90m+ stores around the world.

It’s being tested out in Argentina but there are plans to expand globally.

Way to go, Big Mike.

All of this sounds good in theory, but we'll have to wait and see how long this actually takes to roll out to the rest of the world.

Hopefully soon though. My uncle Vince won’t shut up about how useless crypto is because he can’t buy anything with it.

You just wait, Unc. It’ll be here before ya know it.

TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY SORARE

Fine, I’ll admit it. I know I’ll never own a sports team. Which is why I go all-in on my fantasy sports teams.

And I know I’m not alone. The fantasy sports industry isn’t expected to reach ~$50b in the next 5 years for no reason.

It’s fun. And you get the same high every week as seeing your real team win.

That’s why I got really interested when I heard Sorare was launching its MLB game.

Sorare’s been around for a while, but this is the first time they’re tapping into America's pastime - baseball.

And it caught my eye because:

• It’s based on a popular game: fantasy sports

• It has traction: $410m+ in all-time sales volume and 2nd in total sales volume over the last 30d

• Officially partnered with the MLB and all 30 teams. Yup, they’re in the big league

So when I reached out to Sorare about partnering up, they loaded our account with some ETH and challenged us to see what we can do with it.

Challenge accepted.

And guess what? You’re gonna have a front-row seat to watch us put it to work over the next 6 weeks. We’re calling this Mission Comeback - our Portfolio wallet might be down 60% but our Sorare wallet will make up for it...hopefully.

And if you wanna join the fun, you can too, just by clicking here.

QUICK BITES

Will Wright, the creator of Sims, raised $6m to build simulation games using blockchain and NFTs. Pretty sure my sim is still sitting in a hottub somewhere on my 6th grade PC.

MakerDAO officially makes a $10m loan to Huntingdon Valley Bank. It’s the 1st integration between Defi and Tradfi.

DeGods has entered the Top 5 NFT collections by market cap. It’s the first Solana NFT that sits on the Mt. Rushmore of NFTs with the likes of BAYC, MAYC, Punks, and Moonbirds.

ReadyPlayerMe raised $56m for their avatar-building system. They got backing from big dawgs like a16z, Kevin Hart, Punk6529, and more.

New metaverse trademarks applications: 1/ Folgers files plans for NFTs and virtual coffee and 2/ Miley Cyrus files plans for virtual clothes, toys, and jewelry.

MEME OF THE DAY

That's a wrap for today. Stay thirsty and see ya tomorrow!

If you want more, be sure to follow our Twitter (@MilkRoadDaily)

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

It all makes sense now...

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.