GM. This is Milk Road, the crypto newsletter that makes the surface of the sun look like a walk-in freezer.
Here’s a taste of this week’s menu:
- 🔥 Bitcoin’s following silver’s script to $400K.
- 🥵 Gas tokens are the next strategic reserve.
- 🌶️ Jensen won’t let the neoclouds die.
Every $BTC to $ETH swap is a taxable event. But inside a crypto IRA, it generally isn't. Here's how Roth and Traditional crypto IRAs work (and the catches).
HOT TAKES OF THE WEEK 🔥
Bitcoin’s following silver’s script to $400K 🥈
Matt Crosby (Director of Research & Analytics at Look Into Bitcoin) nailed the $64K bottom on his last appearance, so this time he’s swinging for the top.
His setup: silver’s market cap was about $1T at its 2022 low, Bitcoin bottomed around $1.1T this cycle, and BTC has tracked silver’s run since with roughly a 90% correlation.
Play that out over about 2.3 years and you land at a $400K Bitcoin.
Matt admits that’s a little optimistic, but even his backup numbers using share of global capital still land around $390K.
🎙️ Listen to the full episode here.
Gas tokens are the next strategic reserve ⛽
Chris Perkins (Head of Franklin Crypto at Franklin Templeton) thinks the tokens that power blockchains are about to become strategic commodities.
His numbers are pretty simple: there’s a $160T equity market and another $160T in fixed income, and as more of it moves onchain, the gas tokens underneath it start mattering to governments.
The administration’s already talking up a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and Chris figures the other big ecosystems get pulled in next.
Sure, he runs crypto at a firm with tokenized funds on those exact chains, but hearing this from an almost 80-year-old asset management firm is still wild.
🎙️ Listen to the full episode here.
Jensen won’t let the neoclouds die 🛟
Melvin (AI Analyst & Portfolio Manager at Milk Road PRO) says everyone freaking out over CoreWeave’s 15% bond yield is looking at the wrong number.
That’s one unsecured bond trading under 80 cents, while CoreWeave’s average borrowing cost has actually fallen from 14.9% in 2023 to 8.3% last quarter, even as its debt went from $1.6B to $35.6B.
His larger point is that Jensen Huang needs neoclouds alive, because they’re Nvidia’s hedge against Microsoft, Amazon and Google building their own chips.
🎙️ Listen to the full episode here.
HOW MUCH OF YOUR BITCOIN GAINS DOES THE IRS GET?
Say you buy Bitcoin to hold for 20 years. Solid plan. Then one day you sell.
At the top federal bracket, long-term gains can be taxed at up to 23.8% (20% capital gains plus the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax). Trade along the way and short-term gains can be taxed at up to 37%.
And in a normal account, almost everything counts. Swapping $BTC for $ETH is a taxable event. So is rebalancing. Ugh.
A crypto IRA changes because trades inside the account generally don't trigger taxes. With a Roth crypto IRA, qualified withdrawals in retirement can come out tax-free.
We broke down how it works: Roth vs. Traditional, the 2026 contribution limits, how custody works when you can't hold your own keys, and all those little catches (income limits, no tax-loss harvesting, early withdrawal penalties).
Read the crypto IRA breakdown →
HOT TAKES OF THE WEEK (P2) 🔥
Lighter’s got a $50M a month problem 🔓
Martin Toman (Lead Analyst at Milk Road PRO) actually likes Lighter more than Hyperliquid as a product... he just won’t touch the token.
Starting in January, roughly $50M worth of team and investor tokens start unlocking every month, and Lighter’s only buying back about $3M a month.
Most of those early backers are sitting on 2x to 9x gains, so Martin’s not counting on them all holding.
He admits he sold too early the first time around, but he’s still not buying back in.
🎙️ Listen to the full episode here.
Our own YouTube views prove you’re buying tops 📉
Kyle Reidhead (Head of Research at Milk Road) pulled up Milk Road’s own podcast analytics to roast retail investors.
When crypto was at all-time highs the show was doing close to 40K views a day, then prices slid for eight or nine months and the audience disappeared with them.
Now prices are back and so is everyone else, right after the easy money got made.
Kyle’s read is that stocks are in that same boring chop right now, and chop is your signal to buy, not tune out.
🎙️ Listen to the full episode here.
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
Crypto stocks are bleeding: GLXY is down ~22% in October, BMNR ~16%, HOOD ~10% and COIN ~7.1%, as hot CPI revives rate-hike fears.
VanEck pulls its Lido staked ETH ETF: The firm filed Form RW on October 14 to withdraw the application it first filed in October 2025.
Mert joins the NEAR Foundation Council: The outspoken Solana advocate will help shape strategy and growth for the Swiss-based foundation.
