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GM. This is Milk Road, the Home Depot of crypto newsletters. You can [learn] it. We can help.

It’s Friday! Woo, leggo:

• The 3 pro-crypto candidates 🇺🇸

• Lightning Network-fast cross-border payments ⚡

• Funding Friday: the state of crypto funding 💰

• Tether depegged (slightly) yesterday 🍪

MEET YOUR PRO-CRYPTO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES 🇺🇸

The Milk Man has two rules:

• Never play Monopoly with the in-laws

• Never get into political debates

Both have the same results: things get messy, people throw tantrums, and tables get flipped.

But this year, the Presidential race has the Milk Man’s attention.

Why? There are a handful of pro-crypto candidates.

And there’s been a lot of chatter about how they’ll implement crypto throughout the country if they get voted in.

It’s like 8th grade when the “Class President” candidates would promise extended lunchtime, no homework, and free snacks from the vending machine.

It’s gonna catch some eyes and get some attention. So, without further ado, let’s meet the pro-crypto candidates…

First up, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

• JFK’s nephew (same last name, half as good-looking but twice as ripped)

• He thinks crypto is the coolest thing since sliced bread & accepts campaign donations via Bitcoin

• He’s strongly against CBDCs & FedNow (the Fed’s instant payment system.) He said it’s the first step in “banning and seizing Bitcoin”

• Endorsed by Jack Dorsey

Governor DeSantis

• Governor of Florida

• Said people “have every right to do Bitcoin.” Big ‘hello fellow kids energy’ but okay

• Strongly against CBDCs & FedNow. Earlier this year he signed a bill restricting the use of CBDCs in Florida

• Announced his run while talking to Elon Musk on Twitter Spaces in late May

Francis Suarez

• Mayor of Miami, FL

• First U.S. mayor to take salary in Bitcoin

• Wants to be able to pay taxes and municipal employees in crypto

• Has been trying to turn Miami into a Bitcoin hub

• Built a dope 3,000 lb “Bitcoin Bull” (pictured above)

• Has bazookas for arms

Some fast facts about others:

• President Joe Biden (Democrat) thinks crypto has “no fundamental value,” per an economic report from this year

• Donald Trump (Republican) said crypto “seems like a scam”

Milk Road Take: The Milk Man isn’t endorsing anyone (homeboy doesn’t have a poli sci degree or… really any political qualifications for that matter.)

We will give you the same advice on voting for one as we always give you for crypto investing: DYOR.

GET REWARDED FOR TRADING BY ORIGIN STORY AND 0N1FORCE

Gather ‘round Roaders - it feels like Christmas morning.

A new rewards program just launched and they come bearing gifts - enough to fill any Christmas tree.

I’m talking about Origin x 0N1’s new Community Rewards Platform - the go-to place for creators to reward their communities.

The initiative allows users to earn points for:

• Listing an NFT for sale

• Purchasing an NFT and honoring full royalties

• Placing or accepting a collection offer

And stakers of $OGN get access to tiered multipliers - in addition to staking rewards like 100% of Story’s revenue.

The Grand Prize? An all-expenses paid trip to Comic-Con with the 0N1 team!

But you don’t need to come in first to win big:

• The top 10 will enjoy a dinner with 0N1 and receive 0N1 PFP NFTs

• The top 100 will receive a special NFT that comes with a physical print

• All participants will receive POAPs and a mint slot for the upcoming 0N1 0R1G1NS NFT collection

• Origin has also added 500K OGN to the prize pool

Start your journey below - this promo will be live until June 30th!

FUNDING FRIDAY: THE STATE OF CRYPTO FUNDING 💰

It’s been a rough time for crypto investors of all shapes and sizes.

Even the big kahunas of investing (VC funds) are struggling to raise money.

As of last month, eight venture capital crypto funds raised a total of $500M for the year. Yes. That sounds like a lot, but…

It's a drop (of a tear) in the bucket compared to last year when crypto VCs raised a total of $21.6B.

But in times like these, it’s important to remember one thing…

Milk Road Rule #71: Don’t be Mr. Market. Be Bob the Builder.

To show you why, let’s hit rewind and take a trip down memory lane.

Let’s say it’s 1999 and you’re excited about this “internet” thing.

But then the 2000 dotcom crash happened. Companies shut down. Investors lost money.

It was DEFCON 1 in the tech world. Lots of people left the industry and evacuated for safety.

But in doing so, they missed out on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build stuff like social networks, cell phones, cloud computing, etc.

The people that stuck around ended up building the future we know and live in today.

They built billion-dollar companies. Made hundreds of millions of dollars in the process.

Short-term pain, long-term gain.

So, don’t let the lack of funding or price drops kill your enthusiasm.

Today, we’re gonna show the “Bob the Builders of the Week.” These are crypto companies that have continued to build through the tough times.

ResearchHub got $5M to build a tokenized social network for scientists. It rewards scientists for openly sharing scholarly content.

BoomFi got $3.8M to create a crypto payments platform. It’s an all-in-one solution to send, accept, and convert crypto payments.

Mnemonic got $6M to develop an NFT intelligence platform. It provides NFT data, analytics, and insights all through easy-to-use APIs.

Check out the full database of companies that have raised money this week, right here.

STRIKE IS COMING TO MEXICO ⚡

Let’s talk about 2 things today, Roaders:

• How crypto helps with cross-border payments

• The Bitcoin Lightning Network

Sending money between countries is a lot like traveling from Houston to Chicago via a truck that won’t go over 40 mph: it’s just not very fast, cheap, or efficient.

The Milk Man’s not happy about it…

Enter crypto. And Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, a Layer 2 that makes transactions faster & cheaper.

It’d be like swapping out that bike for an Elon-style Hyperloop tunnel.

Before you know it, you’re spending a fraction of that original cost & time.

And it’s what Strike (digital payment service) uses for its Send Globally system that it just rolled out to Mexico.

It’s the largest market for cross-border payments from the U.S. We’re talking $60B in remittances from the U.S. alone in 2022.

Now folks can easily send U.S. dollars to a Mexico-based bank account, whose owner can receive the funds in pesos.

See? Crypto’s not all doom and gloom.

MILK & COOKIES 🍪

Tether’s USDT stablecoin depegged slightly from the U.S. dollar yesterday. Its balance on Curve 3Pool (the leading stablecoin trading pool) increased to 70%.

BlackRock has filed an application for a Bitcoin ETF. You’ve been watching what’s going on with Grayscale, right Larry Fink?

Binance.US laid off some of its staff, citing a “costly litigation process” after the SEC sued the exchange. About 50 positions were reportedly affected.

Crypto trading volumes in Q2 hit yearly lows with so much regulatory uncertainty and enforcement going on. Average daily volumes were ~$10B, versus $18B in Q1.

MILKY MEMES 🤣

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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.