Today’s edition is brought to you by Trezor - stop losing sleep at night and know your digital assets are secure.
GM, this is Milk Road. The crypto newsletter that’s as refreshing as jumping into a cold tub after the steam room.
It’s Thirsty Thursday. Leggo:
- What to expect in June ⛱️
- Milk Road Cribs 🏰
- Visual of the day: ETH gas guzzlers ⛽
- Someone got $1M of ETH for free… 🍪
Prices as of 7:30 AM ET
4 THINGS TO WATCH IN JUNE ⛱️
It’s June, y’all.
Pool szn is here and we’re halfway to Christmas. Get hyped.
There’s more than 1 reason to relax with a pina colada right now… and a few reasons not to.
Let’s start with the bad news…
1/ June has been a red month for BTC & ETH in recent years
Last June was Bitcoin’s worst month in a decade. Inflation, high interest rates, & low market liquidity will do that to ya.
So will this June suck too? We hate to break it to you, but there’s 1 key factor that might make that the case…
2/ Interest rate hikes
AKA the only term scarier than “we need to talk.”
The Fed might vote to raise them in mid-June. Threat of higher federal interest rates = less likely people are to buy risky assets (like crypto/BTC.)
Womp womp.
But on to the good news!
3/ Apple might launch its VR headset at its annual conference next week
This headset could be a total gamechanger. And people think it could send metaverse tokens booming, too.
Decentraland & Sandbox’s native tokens surged in January because of the headset rumors.
But they might need more than just a tech heavyweight-made VR product to take off: actual metaverse mass adoption (that’s waaaay off.)
4/ Hong Kong started letting retail investors buy/sell crypto today
Time to celebrate 🍾
Why? Because ~7.4M more people being able to trade crypto is like your buddy showing up with a 24 pack of beer for mass adoption - it swings that door wide open.
It’s also a win since China has been so iffy about how to (or if it would) welcome crypto. Hong Kong’s move could expand throughout China, too.
Watch this space…
KEEP YOUR FUNDS SECURE IN COLD STORAGE 🔐
There are two things I always keep stashed away:
1/ My crypto
2/ An extra pack of Oreos (ya never know when you’ll need it)
I won’t tell you where the Oreos are. But I will tell you where the crypto is…
Trezor’s Hardware wallets. These are physical devices that keep your private keys and crypto secure. They also give you full control over your assets vs storing it in a centralized exchange.
(Remember - not your keys, not your cheese.)
There are a ton of different hardware wallets - like Trezor, Ledger, and more - so we created a whole guide for you Roadies. Check it out here!
WARNING: Trezor’s hardware wallets might make you feel invincible. Side effects include walking with a swagger and bragging about your “security hygiene”.
MILK ROAD: CRYPTO CRIBS 🏰
The bear market hasn’t been too bad for everyone…
A few CEOs in the industry have locked down some serious real estate. And today, Roaders are gonna get an inside look.
Welcome to Milk Road cribs.
1/ Michael Egorov (2 mansions worth ~$59M in Melbourne, Australia)
One wasn’t enough, so the CEO of Curve Finance bought two mansions and combined them. We’re talking about a mf compound.
This compound stretches over 60,000 sq ft, was built in 1890, and has 6 kitchens. That’s a lot of milk.
It also contains a 10 car garage, 2 pools and mini soccer field. Sheesh.
Who is Michael? He’s the CEO of Curve Finance, which is a decentralized exchange that focuses on efficient swaps for stablecoins. And they’re one of the biggest players in town.
Curve’s been averaging $100M+ of volume on their platform during May. And it seems like Michael they are reaping the rewards.
2/ Ivan Soto-Wright: ($38M mansion in Miami, FL)
What do you do when you co-found a company whose valuation soars to ~3.5B?
You follow in Ivan’s footsteps and lock down a waterfront crib in Miami. This place is ~12,000 sq ft, has 8 bathrooms and a crazy spa and pool.
Who is Ivan? He’s the co-founder and CEO of Moonpay. They enable the trading of NFTs and crypto with credit cards and Apple pay.
And they have some serious reach. They currently have 5M+ customers across more than 160 countries.
3/ Brian Armstrong: $133M Mansion in Los Angeles, CA
Well folks, we’ve saved the best for last. We’re gonna welcome you into the home of crypto’s bravest defenders.
This estate covers ~25,000 sq ft when you combine the guest house. And the price tag is just as hefty - this marked one of the most expensive single-family home sales in CA history.
It comes strapped with 10 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and sits on almost 5 acres of land looking over the LA skyline.
But let’s not forget, Brian founded Coinbase all the way back in 2012 and grew it to a ~$15B valuation.
And say what you want about billionaires, but Brian may be the best shot we have at moving the industry forward in the U.S.
TRACKING ETH GAS USAGE OVER TIME ⛽
Gas powers the Ethereum network just like coffee powers every one of my mornings. Just poured my second cup.
The difference? The reason for gas usage on Ethereum is constantly changing.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane, Roaders. Here’s how gas has been spent on Ethereum over the years:
Dune Analytics
There are 2 big takeaways:
1/ When the network launched, there was little happening. The first few years were consumed by ETH transfers, smart contract creations and other simple tasks.
While Ethereum was created to be “programmable money”, it took a bit for the guardrails to be built.
2/ After real applications began to launch, gas consumption shifted to what we know and love today: NFTs and token swaps.
When looking at the last month alone, NFT and token creations and trades made up almost half of all gas usage.
Dune Analytics
As Ethereum continues to evolve, we can expect usage to spread out more.
But it could take a fortune teller to guess where things are headed. I don’t think anyone could have predicted cartoon monkeys wearing crowns and captain’s hats.
MILK & COOKIES 🍪
LooksRare's Season One went live today. Compete to earn Gems, which are redeemable towards a prize pool of 5,000,000 LOOKS tokens at the end of the month.*
A wallet holder asked their Twitter followers for ETH for nothing in return. It got $1M in 24 hours… 👀
Binance reportedly laid off 20% of its workforce. CEO CZ tweeted that it was all FUD - the company regularly says “goodbye” to employees that aren’t a good fit.
The author of “The Bitcoin Standard” is now an economic advisor to El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office.They really goin’ all in…
Blockchain data company Nansen laid off 43 employees this week (about 30% of staff.) It cited a harsh market and growing too fast too early.
*This is sponsored ad content
MILKY MEMES 🤣
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ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY
VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY
greetings, Roaders
— Milk Road Images (@MilkRoadImages)1:36 PM • Jun 1, 2023
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.
