Today’s edition is brought to you by Avalanche Summit - a premier crypto event showcasing the latest developments and key announcements from Avalanche.
Buy tickets for the Avalanche Summit happening in London
GM. This is Milk Road, the daily crypto newsletter that is the Jarvis to your Iron Man.
Here’s what we got for you today:
- ✍️ What to look out for
- ✍️ Warren Buffett’s ‘Get rich slow’ method
- 🎙️ The Milk Road Show: Is the Strong Economic Data a Mirage Right Now? w/ Stefan Rust
- 🍪 Tether is launching Tether AI
Prices as of 2:00 PM ET. Click here for our Fear & Greed Index.
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS MONTH 📅
How’s your calendar looking for May, not too full up?
Good. ‘Cause you’re going to need the line space.
Here’s what’s coming down the pike:
1/ Macro 📊
The Bitcoin Reserve’s 60-day deadline gets hit - Monday - Trump's Bitcoin Reserve executive order mandated that an evaluation of the legal and investment considerations for establishing a Bitcoin Reserve/Crypto Stockpile be delivered by today.
S&P Global and ISM Services PMI data - Monday - Two separate gut checks with the US services industry, gauging their spending (higher spend = higher expected economic growth).
U.S. March trade data - Tuesday - This reports the monthly balance of trade (exports minus imports), a key figure of concern in the current tariff battle.
Fed Interest Rate Decision - Wednesday - Will we get a rate cut this month? According to the market: no, we won’t (CME is currently factoring in a 2.4% chance of a cut).
Fed Press Conference - Wednesday - When Jerome speaks, the market listens. Depending on his perceived outlook, the market will often rise or fall.
Initial Jobless Claims data - Thursday - Jobless claims precede unemployment filings, which means they give us a glimpse into whether unemployment is rising or falling.
ISM Supply Chain Planning Forecast - May 15th - This is a semi-annual check-in with the US services and manufacturing industry, that forecasts their spending for the year (again, higher spend = higher expected economic growth).
Of all of that, we’ll be looking closely at: the Bitcoin Reserve deadline (today), the Fed press conference (Wednesday), ISM Supply Chain Planning Forecast (May 15).
Together, they will allow us to gauge what the future holds for crypto, financial policy, and economic growth within the US in 2025.
2/ Earnings Season 💣
Roughly 20% of the S&P 500 are reporting earnings this week! But there are only a handful of these companies we’re keeping an eye on…
To gauge crypto’s health, we’ll be looking at: Coinbase ($COIN) and the mining company ‘Hut 8’ ($HUT)
To gauge the broader tech sector’s health, we’ll be looking at: the chip manufacturer ‘AMD’ ($AMD) and semiconductor and software design company ‘Arm’ ($ARM).
3/ Crypto events & milestones 💎
- Ethereum's Pectra Upgrade May 7 - Ethereum is about to get a little faster, cheaper, and easier to use
- Sonic Summit, Vienna, 6 - 8 May
- Consensus, Toronto, 14 - 16 May (Get $120 off tickets with code ‘MILKROAD’ and come to our meetup!)
- Avalanche Summit, London, 20 - 22 May
- Bitcoin 2025, Las Vegas, 27 - 29 May
4/ Live Podcasts 🎙️
We’ll be LIVE on X every day of the week, at 12:05pm ET!
- Monday - Stefan Rust - Former CEO of Bitcoin(dot)com
- Tuesday - Jeff Dorman - CIO at Arca
- Wednesday - Matt Crosby - leads Bitcoin Magazine Pro
- Thursday - Dan Tapiero - Founder/CEO/CIO at 10T Holdings
- Friday - Dee Goens - co-creator of Zora
Alright, that’s just about everything we could fit sanely into a single article.
If you want real-time updates on each event, follow us on X/Twitter and turn notifications on 🤝
EXCITING TIMES COMING UP FOR AVALANCHE
Last year, we hit up Solana Breakpoint and saw some seriously impressive product announcements.
Big announcements = hype around the ecosystem
Well, we're looking forward to even more excitement and energy coming up at Avalanche Summit London.
On top of massive announcements, Avalanche Summit has also got a killer lineup of speakers:
- Big crypto voices like Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano
- Serious DeFi builders like Stani (Founder of Aave)
- Massive crypto institutions such as VanEck and WisdomTree
If you want real-time alpha and front-row access to Avalanche’s next chapter, Avalanche Summit is the place to be. 🤝
Buy tickets for the Avalanche Summit happening in London
5 LESSONS FROM WARREN BUFFETT’S ‘GET RICH SLOW’ METHOD 🐢
So, Warren Buffett (94) just announced that he’ll be retiring as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025.
For those unfamiliar, Warren’s widely considered one of (if not THE) greatest investors of all time – and his total career stats go a little something like this:
- Since 1964 Berkshire Hathaway has returned 5.5 MILLION percent
- 90% of Warren’s $168.2B personal net worth was made AFTER his 65th birthday
- Of the 210+ businesses he has invested in, just 12 make up the majority of his gains
Here’re five quick lessons to take away from one of the greatest all-time investors:
1/ Invest in what you understand
Warren is famously narrow-sighted when it comes to investing – if he doesn’t understand it, he won’t buy it.
E.g. Warren doesn’t really ‘get’ tech. He struck up a friendship with Bill Gates in 1991 and never bought Microsoft with any real size – missing out on a 37,000% return (bottom-to-top).
2/ Take a long-term view (not weeks, months, or years – but decades)
If you understand an asset enough to identify value in it, you should be prepared to buy it and hold it for decades.
The longer you hold quality assets → the greater the compounding effect becomes over time. 👇
3/ An investor’s temperament is more important than their intellect
Can you avoid the temptation to sell everything when the market crashes or corrects?
According to Warren, having the stomach to weather those kinds of storms will serve you better than a high IQ.
4/ Diversification is for those that don’t know what they’re doing
If you have a deep understanding and long-term conviction around the assets you are purchasing, you shouldn’t need to diversify.
“Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.” – Warren
(Agreed, but easier said than done, B Man – crypto is confusing as hell!)
5/ Don’t borrow money to invest with (aka: don’t use leverage)
“My partner Charlie Munger says there are only three ways a smart person can go broke: liquor, ladies and leverage." – Warren
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
What if you could have a more energy-efficient Bitcoin? That’s exactly what Alephium, a new L1, is building with its sustainable PoW chain.*
Crypto companies are moving back to the US! Deribit, OKX, and Nexo are all setting up shop in the US thanks to the regulatory shift.
Register for the Gold vs. Bitcoin debate! Kyle (Our Head of Research) started a fight with Peter Grosskopf from Argo on which is the better asset — now they’re debating live!
Tether is launching Tether AI! a fully open-source AI that runs on any hardware (without relying on API keys or central servers).
This DEX solves an actual UX issue! Milk Road Swap supports both Ethereum and Solana tokens in a single interface.**
*this is sponsored content. **this is partner content.
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