GM. This is Milk Road Degen, the crypto newsletter that hits harder than a REKT drink on an empty stomach.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• ✍️ Brand coins are back and booming

• 🍪 Believe revealed a potential $LAUNCHCOIN flywheel

BRAND COINS ARE BACK AND BOOMING (P1) 💰

Ok degen, I’ve got a mission for you.

Go back in time to the very first Degen PRO Report on July 18th.

When you see me mention $PENGU and $REKT, stop me dead in my tracks.

Make me liquidate all my DeFi positions.

And full-port them into those two tokens.

Because since then?

• $PENGU is up 50%

• $REKT is up a wild 120%

Actually, go even further back to the July 9th newsletter “These feel like the next $1B token”.

The first token in there? Also $REKT.

Its market cap then? $155M

Market cap now? $420M

That's 3x in just 20 days.

Why is this happening, you ask? Because “brand coins” are the new meta.

And I’m hurting.

So today we’re diving into these two category leaders to unpack their narratives, price action, and whether this trend can keep running.

Oh, and we’ll look beyond them too. There might be more “brand tokens” lurking in the shadows.

$REKT - The next red bull

Let’s recap what’s happened since I first mentioned $REKT in the newsletter:

• They launched an official collab drink with Binance

• Binance changed their PFP to a Rekt Guy

• The brand took over Crypto Twitter’s mindshare

Actually, that’s just this past week.

And beyond the crypto hype, the brand is pulling real numbers:

• 625k+ cans sold

• Last drop of 180k cans sold out in 17 minutes

• Test-launched in three 7-Eleven stores, and sold out instantly

Sure, compared to other drink brands, it's nothing. 

Coca-Cola is worth $297B but sells 700B+ drinks a year. So by that logic, $REKT would need to sell 1B cans to “deserve” its $500M cap.

But that’s not fair.

For a crypto-native startup beverage brand, REKT is killing it.

So, should you ape?

Bull case:

• OSF (the founder) is in full-send mode. He made millions last cycle, and now he wants billions. And he’s chasing it for legacy, not just money. That’s dangerous in the best way.

• REKT’s market cap is still only 1/10 of $PENGU. Some think a reprice is inevitable.

• The team still holds 34% of the token, which gives them flexibility for:

  1. Equity deals

  2. Partner incentives

  3. Rewards programs

  4. Or even an acquisition

Bear case:

• REKT is heavily tied to its founder. If something happens to him, or he slows down, the token takes a hit.

• 15 straight green candles = impressive and scary. Everyone’s in profit, which is dangerous for pullbacks.

• It’s still a beverage company. You need serious scale to justify long-term upside.

My move:

I’m sidelined. I have a disease where I physically can’t buy green candles, even if I know there might be another one tomorrow. Please, someone, slap me out of it.

BRAND COINS ARE BACK AND BOOMING (P2) 💰

$PENGU - The comeback kid

The Pudgy Penguin story is wild:

• Original founder soft-rugged the project

• Project was acquired by Luca Netz (Shopify prodigy, 22 y/o at the time)

• Rebuilt into the biggest PFP brand in crypto

And in just the last year:

• Pudgy floor hit 33 ETH in January

• Each NFT holder got over $100k in $PENGU

• They launched their own L2 on Abstract (now top 70 by TVL)

• $PENGU has 5x’d since late June ($520M -> $2.7B)

Oh, and they’ve teased more Abstract stuff dropping soon. Possibly a TGE + airdrop in Q4.

As for real-world success:

• Over $10M in toy sales at Walmart (as of Feb 2024, which is a million years ago in crypto so I’m assuming it’s way more now).

• 54B+ views on Giphy

• 2M followers on Instagram

Honestly, the Giphy stat is nuts. They might have more brand exposure than any other crypto product, period. I’ve seen Pudgy gifs in totally non-crypto convos. My mom has sent me one.

So, should you ape?

Bull case:

• Price is in discovery after an astonishing recovery this past month

• NFT narratives are heating up again; CryptoPunks are at $200k floors

• It's very likely that $PENGU holders get rewarded via Abstract. That could push prices further

Bear case:

• We’re in an alt-season rally. These things end fast

• If Abstract launches a token, this becomes a two-token company. One will likely cannibalize the other

• Are stuffed penguins and a new L2 really worthy of a $4B+ FDV?

The third “brand” coin?

There are not many legit ones outside of these two. But that doesn’t mean the narrative won’t pick up soon. Here are some possible contenders:

1/ $MOG ($660M Market Cap) - From Kmoney

This is actually a pretty massive memecoin that could potentially evolve into more. It has tons of community support, and it wouldn’t be hard to take the merch/drink route. You never know!

2/ BoDoggos (4 SOL floor) 

These have actually gone up quite a lot in the last few days, and they have a MASSIVE team of top-tier influencers repping them. The founders, Nick and Pio, are viral video kings and are keen to take the brand to the next level. Perhaps with a token and larger brand to fit their ethos?

3/ $ANIME ($140M Market Cap) - From Azuki

They want to be the token for anime. Community is battle-tested. Website is clean. Art is top-tier.

This could be a long-term “accumulate and forget” token. Currently around $140M cap, and with a long term mission; so there’s actually hope here.

4/ $DOOD ($33M Market Cap) - From Doodles

For a long long time, Doodles seemed poised to outlive many other projects from 2021. 

Now? Chaos. gone. Exec team gutted. 2/3 of the founders are out. Token rally is over. Fancy music-industry CEO is gone. No bull case right now except “I like the art”.

Wrapping up

Like I said, I wish I could go back and play this one differently.

$PENGU and $REKT have killer founders, real traction, and huge communities. But after weeks of green candles, it’s hard for me to ape in now.

Then again… maybe that’s the flaw.

Maybe that’s the exact time to buy.

Maybe the hype is the alpha.

Lots to ponder.

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

Solana’s co-founder called NFTs and memecoins “digital slop”. Crypto Twitter is not happy about this.

Believe revealed a potential $LAUNCHCOIN flywheel. The token is up 15% on the news and is one to watch.

Ordinals (Bitcoin NFTs) are flying right now. This comes in the middle of a wild NFT season where most collections tripled in value.

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MILKY MEME 🤣

ROADIE REVIEW OF THE DAY 🥛