🥛 5 things to watch this week 👀

PLUS: BTC on exchanges is going down. L2 usage is up 📊                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 May 06, 2024 | [Read Online]( [fb]( [tw]( [in]( [email](mailto:?subject=Post%20from%20Milk%20Road&body=%F0%9F%A5%9B%205%20things%20to%20watch%20this%20week%20%F0%9F%91%80%3A%20PLUS%3A%20BTC%20on%20exchanges%20is%20going%20down.%20L2%20usage%20is%20up%20%20%F0%9F%93%8A%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthemilkroad.beehiiv.com%2Fp%2F5-things-watch-week) Today’s edition is brought to you by [Consensus]( – join the community of developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers, and more who are taking crypto from the margins to the mainstream at the 10th annual Consensus, May 29 - 31 in Austin, Texas. [Use code MILKROAD for 20% off.]( GM. This is Milk Road, welcome back to your daily dose of crypto. Here’s what we got for you today: - 5 things to watch this week 👀 - Graphs of the Day: BTC on exchanges is going down. L2 usage is up 📊 - A 4-in-1 airdrop strategy 🪂 - The future of smart contracts 🔮 - Crypto VC funding hit $1B in back-to-back months 🍪 [Prices as of 9:30 AM ET. Click here for our Fear & Greed Index]( 5 THINGS TO WATCH THIS WEEK 👀 Ladies & gents, we’ve got a BIG week ahead. It’s gonna be full of U.S. macro data, earnings reports, and token unlocks. 🚨The Holy Trinity of Volatility🚨 1/ Options expired $2.4B in options expired on Friday - $1.3B in BTC - $1B in ETH What it is: Options contracts allow investors to speculate on the future price of BTC and ETH without owning the cryptocurrency itself. Why it matters: The expiration of these contracts can lead to increased market volatility as investors settle their positions, potentially causing short-term price fluctuations. The put-to-call ratio (aka investors betting on “call” or against “put” the future price) for Bitcoin is at .5 [Source: @esatoshiclub]( A ratio below 0.7 is generally considered bullish, indicating that more investors are expecting the price to rise… While a ratio above 1 is bearish, suggesting more investors expect the price to fall. The .5 ratio suggests a healthy balance and more than bullish sentiment.   2/ Macro stuff A handful of macro data is being released this week…. [[Source: @kobeissiletter](]( Look for how these numbers will influence.. - Investor confidence - Risk appetite - Overall economic outlook Have we even officially entered the bull market yet? Check out when we recently covered our framework on thinking through this [here]( 3/ All eyes on ETFs All eyes are on pension funds and other institutional players for ETF inflows. This comes after $1.2B in outflows since April 24th. However, the final numbers are in from Friday, the tides are turning so it seems. $378M of inflows for US exchange-traded funds on Friday were put in the books. Most importantly, Grayscale saw inflows for the first time in 79 days…. Let’s see if the new trend can continue this week. 4/ EigenLayer TGE Friendly reminder the Eigen Token Generating Event is this week, here’s the TLDR: - Everyone that participated gets a minimum of 110 tokens - Claiming will go live on May 10th - Snapshot was on March 15th - Defi Llama let’s you check your eligibility for airdrops [here]( - There is a geolocation restriction You could fly to another country to claim…. or instead, here’s a solution being discussed [Source: @pump_wallet]( 5/ Token unlocks $113.86M in various cryptocurrencies will be [unlocked]( this week. - $4.5M worth of $HFT tokens will unlock later today (3.5% of circ. supply) - $107.9M worth of $APT tokens will unlock on May 12th (2.6% of circ. supply) - $970.63K worth of $GLMR tokens will unlock on May 11th (.4% of circ. supply) [CONSENSUS 2024 — THE BEST NETWORKING IN CRYPTO]( Where do the industry’s heavyweights go to get three months of meetings done in three days? [Consensus 2024](is taking place in Austin Texas at the end of THIS MONTH. Grow your network with industry titans and visionaries, from C-suite leaders to investors to builders and more: - 9 stages, 7 lounges, 6 summits, and hundreds of side events - Tailored Spaces: The Gallery, Deal Flow Zone, Circle Pro Pass Lounge, and more, are designed to foster serendipitous encounters. - Exclusive Events: PitchFest presented by Google Cloud, EasyA Hackathon, and Karate Combat 46 to name just a few. - Curated Meetups: Connect with like-minded peers in meetups for LGBTQIA+, Women, Devs, and other communities. And don't miss out on the hundreds of buzzing side events around Austin. The only thing missing is you. Get your pass now and save [20% with code MILKROAD.]( GRAPHS OF THE DAY: EXCHANGE RESERVES & LAYER 2 USERS 📊 1/ Crypto exchange reserves Excess reserves at crypto exchanges have dropped by more than 18% since last June You know, all the Bitcoin that exchanges have stacked on the sidelines waiting to fill new buy orders [Source: CryptoQuant]( X marks the spot. This chart yields an interesting criss cross, as the price of BTC goes up, the sidelined Bitcoin at exchanges goes down…. Supply 🤝 Demand. 2/ Layer 2 users Ever wonder how many Ethereum users are active on layer 2’s? Well here is the stat for you: 80% of the daily active addresses in Ethereum's ecosystem are engaged on Layer 2 solutions! With Base and Arbitrum leading the way. [Source: @growthepie_eth]( Milk Road Take: The fact that 80% of Ethereum's daily active addresses are engaged on Layer 2 solutions is BIG. This shows…. - ETH ecosystem is embracing scalability and efficiency - Moving away from the congestion and high fees of Layer 1 This shift is crucial for the future of Ethereum, as it addresses the scalability issues that have long been a barrier to widespread adoption. THE 4-IN-1 AIRDROP STRATEGY 🪂 Airdrops are one of the most lucrative ways to make money in crypto. The problem: it’s hard to find the next airdrop opportunities. This is why we’re dropping a new airdrop strategy for you today. With it, you’ll be able to farm 4 airdrops at once. It’s the crypto equivalent of that 4-in-1 body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and hand soap - all guys use in college. Here are the 4 easy steps: - Deposit SOL on [Sanctum]( into INF, JupSO, or any other LSTs on Sanctum - INF is a good option as it earns the most yield and JupSOL as you might earn the JUP airdrop - If you want to earn season 2 points, take 50% of your INF and deposit into [Kamino Finance]( - To earn points for their airdrop, take 50% of your INF deposit into [MarginFI]( P.S. if you want to go deeper on our full airdrop coverage you can check it out [here]( How active are you with airdrop participation? A/ Guru, I’ve claimed 10+ airdrops B/ Dabbler, I’ve done a handful or so. C/ Newbie, I’ve never participated in an airdrop. Hit “reply” to let us know how many of you are interested in airdrop coverage! THE FUTURE OF SMART CONTRACTS 🔮 They handle $1B in monthly ETH transfer volume and secures over $100B in total value across 50+ networks. We're talking about Safe — the leading multi-sig wallet, who we sat down with for the latest episode of Milk Road Radio. Tune in on your favorite platform as we discuss the future of smart accounts. 👇 [YouTube]( | [Spotify]( | [Apple Podcasts]( BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪 [Gamium is an intriguing new take on the web3 social sector, combining social tokens and weaving an immersive element into its MSTs.]( Gamium provides an experience that goes beyond the simple trading of social tokens. Check out our review [here](.* [The numbers are in… crypto venture capital funding hit $1B for the second straight month](. It is the first time since late 2022 that the industry has recorded two consecutive funding months above $1B. [Coinbase is facing a new class action lawsuit](. A class-action lawsuit against Coinbase was recently filed by a serial crypto litigator on behalf of its customers, alleging the exchange sells unregistered securities and operates as an unlicensed broker/dealer. [Ethereum stablecoin volume shattered its monthly record in April](. The monthly stablecoin volume on Ethereum has increased for the past three months in a row now. [Bitcoin surpassed 1 billion all-time processed transactions](. Welcome to the Triple Comma Club. [Layer 0 Labs reveals new way to combat sybil farmers.]( Focus is on rewarding loyal, long-term users. If you're a Sybil attacker, you can either self-report your addresses for a 15% allocation by May 17th, or risk getting nothing if your addresses are flagged. [Wanna team up with the Milk Man?]( We currently have 5 positions open – check ‘em out and [apply here](! *this is sponsored content MILKY MEMES 🤣 [Source: @naiivememe]( [Source: @TheBTCTherapist]( [Source: @MinisterOfNFTs]( RATE TODAY’S EDITION What'd you think of today's edition? [🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛 F**king great]( [🥛🥛🥛 Meh, do better]( [🥛 You didn't bring the heat]( ROADER REVIEW OF THE DAY VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY [Source: @MilkRoadImages]( 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. [tw]( [ig]( [yt]( [tk]( [in]( Interested in reaching smart readers like you?  [Sponsor Milk Road]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here]( © 2024 ImpactDM Inc. operating as Milk Road 1257 Dundas St W Toronto, Ontario M6J1X6, Canada