Today’s edition is brought to you by Access - a publishing platform that is uniting content creators and consumers through on-chain relationships.

GM, this is Milk Road. We’re your crypto weather man. We bring you the forecast every day, helping you avoid the rainy days, and shine when it’s nice out.

It’s Friday, y’all. Let’s boogie:

• Numbers of the day 🔢

• Funding Friday 💰

• Sui blockchain, meet Red Bull 🍪

NUMBERS OF THE DAY 🔢

15,500 - The average number of MEV transactions per day last month

MEV transactions are booming. This time last year, there was only an average of 1,000 per day.

Now there are 15,500 per day. (a 15x increase)

Why is MEV up? With jaredfromsubway.eth sitting back and making millions, everyone wants in on the fun.

And it shows. Here’s some other interesting stats:

• There were 480K MEV transactions in May (a monthly ATH)

• Around ¾ of these transactions were profitable

• 70% of all ETH blocks had a MEV sandwich attack in them

The result? People are losing money on their swaps in addition to gas fees. It’s a double whammy.

It can be dangerous out there Roaders - always remember to bring a flashbot.

$3.1M - How much a crypto millionaire lost on one poker hand

This was the biggest pot in televised poker history. Ever.

What happened? A wealthy crypto investor, Wesley Fei, tried to take his talents to the poker table.

And he didn’t just get his feet wet. He joined a tournament with a million dollar buy-in.

The problem? He ended up going heads up with one of the top poker players in the world, Tom Dwan. And he tried to bluff him…

Bluffing is when you pretend you have a really good hand so the other person folds. It’s like when you lied to your parents about throwing that party in high school. But then they found a few solo cups buried in the couch.

Wesley was living on a prayer. His reaction says it all.

~$440B - The total volume on centralized exchanges in May

This is the lowest figure recorded since October of 2020. Womp Womp.

The scariest part? Volume is down 90% compared to May 2021. (From $4T → $0.5T, real quick)

Why is this happening?

1/ Volume is shifting to Decentralized Exchanges (DEX)

People have lost trust in centralized entities this past year. And when you lose trust, you make the move to trustless applications like Dexes.

So while centralized exchange volume is sinking, decentralized exchange volume is up.

Remember kids, there’s no safe CEX in crypto, you gotta use protection (i.e a DEX).

2/ Large firms have backed off from crypto

Jump and Jane Street were two of the biggest trading firms in crypto. And they both started scaling back at the beginning of the month.

When you add in the increased difficulty to on and off-ramp crypto, it’s no surprise exchange volume has fallen off a cliff.

$83.48B - Tether’s market cap right now.

The USDT stablecoin issuer’s market cap just hit a new ATH.

The last time it wass ~$83B was June 2022. That means Tether has regained the ~$20B it lost after the TerraUSD collapse.

Check it out:

So why the sudden boom? Simple, all other stablecoins are riding the Struggle Bus™…

• BUSD was forced to stop issuing new tokens by regulators (R.I.P)

• USDC depegged from $1 earlier this year after SVB collapsed

• USDP is facing a $500M sell-off after MakerDAO voted to dump its USDP reserves

Tether’s like that kid in 6th grade that came back from vacation with a tan & a spray painted dolphin T-shirt - it’s THRIVING.

70% - How far Ethereum gas fees are down from its ATH

It costs $4.28 to process a single transaction on the Ethereum network right now. In early May, it was ~$14.

So why the drop? Well, Pepe was the sh*t in early May - everyone & their mother was buying the memecoin and trying to get rich.

That mania has clearly calmed down a ton.

So wait…is this bad? No! It’s good, actually.

Uncongested network + lower transaction fees = more people using it = mass adoption

The all-in-one ecosystem for content creators 📝

I’ll let you in on a little secret… The subscription model is broken. There’s nothing worse than checking your bank statement to see you’re still paying for that outdated magazine…

Well the Milk Man has found a solution: Access.

Access enables creators to:

• Build strong on-chain relationships with their consumers

• Mint NFTs directly to subscribers

• Token gate content and community channels

And even though CoinGecko, The Block, and CryptoSlate use it, it’s not just for big companies. Check out the Access Content Hub to see how various creators are currently leveraging the platform.

But the best part? Access Labs recently launched Scribe.

Scribe aims to be THE publishing platform for small and independent creators.

The platform is currently in Beta, but the team has opened up priority submissions for Milk Road readers.

Just sign up below and see why 120,000 subscribers already use Access!

FUNDING FRIDAY 💰

It’s Funding Friday! This week, ~$135M was raised by crypto companies.

Here’s where the money is flowing:

Magic got $52M for their wallet geared towards the masses. It offers customizable design, optional widgets and 20+ authentication methods.

M80 got $30M to build the future of the creator economy with Esports. Bringing power to the players like never before.

Transak got $20M for its payment gateway simplifying crypto for investors. Another step closer to mass adoption.

Illuvium got $10M for its open-world adventure game. Imagine Skyrim meeting the ETH blockchain.

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

MILK & COOKIES 🍪

Investors Are Using a New Set of Cross-Chain Metrics. Axelarscan has them all. Hint: TVL isn't necessarily on the list.*

The Sui blockchain signed a multiyear deal as a blockchain partner with Formula One’s Oracle Red Bull Racing team. F1 has had more partnerships than Leonardo DiCaprio…

T-Mobile’s parent company is now a validator on the Polygon network. Web2 🤝 Web3

Silvergate has agreed to wind down the bank’s operations. It’ll announce a self-liquidation plan in the next few days.

A new lawsuit alleges that Elon Musk manipulated the price of Dogecoin through insider trading. Never a dull day for Mr. Twitter Fingers…

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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.