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GM. This is Milk Road. The crypto markets are stirring, grab your coffee and your courage for this price drop update.

Here’s what we’re serving up today:

• Prices are down, here’s why… 🤬

• The top 5 altcoins to buy in May 👀

• What’s going on with EigenLayer? 🧐

• CZ is going to prison 🍪

PRICES ARE DOWN. HERE’S WHY… 🤬

BTC is down 7%, a handful of altcoins are down 10%... and the Milk Man has smoked 14 cigarettes before lunch. 

Here’s what the crypto market looks like over the last 24 hours:

So wtf is going on? Why are prices dropping?

1/ Macro data has investors spooked

A bunch of macro data is being released this week:

• JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) is being released today

• Unemployment numbers will be released tomorrow

• Non-farm payroll results will drop on Friday (this is a metric that shows job growth)

But the big thing everyone has their eyes on is… interest rates. The Fed will decide whether to raise rates, lower them, or keep them the same later today. 

Here’s why interest rates matter: 

• Businesses borrow money to grow.

• But…you pay interest when you borrow money. 

• So… high-interest rates mean borrowing money is more expensive.

• So…businesses borrow less and grow less.

• Asset prices (stocks, crypto, real estate, etc) are based on growth.

• Lower growth = lower prices.

The rates haven’t even gone up yet, but the market reacts to perception - not results. 

And many investors are anticipating a hawkish speech from Jerome Powell after the interest rate decision.

This leads to a chain reaction of… 

Panic → sell-offs → prices crash → investors panic → more sell-offs → and then…

2/ Liquidations

Over the last 24 hours, 115,804 traders were liquidated for a whopping… $387.91M. 

Milk Road Take: If you’re new to crypto, these price swings can be scary. 

But they’re…

• Normal - during the 2015-2017 bull market, over 13 different 20% pullbacks happened.

• And good for the markets - they flush out all the crap (i.e. investors that mismanage risk and are overleveraged) and reset the markets. 

It's a bit like a spring cleaning—messy but refreshingly necessary.

Good news: We’ve studied these pullbacks, here are a few things to consider.

Here are some milky memes to cool the pain:

With all the craziness going on, we wanna know… how are you feeling about the markets right now?

a/ extreme fear – “Help mommy, I’m scared!”

b/ fear – I’m sleeping with the nightlight on during times like these

c/ neutral – call me Switzerland

d/ greed – Lovin’ the discounts! Keep em comin’

e/ extreme greed – Fear isn’t in my vocab. I feast while others diet

Hit “reply” to this email and let us know.

THE TOP 5 ALTCOINS TO BUY IN MAY 👀

Depressing Fact: Crypto has been bleeding for the past 45 days straight.

Milk Road Take: This is a typical correction. This is not the bull market top.

With that in mind, now could be a huge opportunity to scoop up some assets that will do well this cycle.

On today’s Milk Road Radio episode, we walk you through our top 5 altcoin picks for May.

Check it out on your favorite platform. 👇

YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH EIGENLAYER? 🧐

All eyes have been on one thing this week… Eigen Layer. 

Why? The staking protocol is gearing up to do a massive airdrop of its new token, $EIGEN.

It released the whitepaper with all the details and there were a few things that got people’s attention: 

1. The tokens are initially non-transferable. Basically, the tokens are locked up for a while (and no one really knows how long which appears to be a feature, not a bug) 

2. Users in most countries are restricted from receiving the airdrop. This includes the U.S., Canada, China, Russia, and more. 

The Community’s Take: The reaction has been mixed…

• On one hand… some see it as a necessary step towards decentralization and the long-term health of the EigenLayer ecosystem. 

• On the other hand…some people view it as a missed opportunity for inclusivity and a fair distribution of rewards.

This 3 tweet convo summarizes it best: 

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

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Wanna team up with the Milk Man? We currently have 5 positions open – check ‘em out and apply here!

Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has been sentenced to 4 months in prison. Fun fact: He’ll be the richest inmate in the U.S. (estimated net worth: $33B)

Major crypto stocks, like Coinbase and MicroStrategy, are down in price over the last 24 hours. Crypto miners like Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms are also in the red zone.

BlackRock’s tokenized fund (BUIDL) hit $375M in assets under management (AUM). It’s now the world’s largest treasury fund. (Btw, the fund invests at least 99.5% of its total assets in U.S. government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements collateralized fully by U.S. government securities or cash).

Coinbase rolled out Lightning Network support for users. The integration enables a faster and cheaper way for its users to send, receive, or pay with BTC. Previously, BTC transfers on Coinbase were processed on-chain, meaning transactions could take between 10 minutes and two hours.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $344M in net withdrawals in April. It’s the first monthly net outflows since trading began in January.

*This is sponsored content

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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.