🥛 The State of Crypto 👀

PLUS: Shapella upgrade goes live today 👀

April 12, 2023

GM. This is Milk Road, the Lays of Crypto. Once you find us, I betcha can’t read just one.

Here's what we're serving up today:

  • Bitcoin hits 10-month high of $30K 📈

  • a16z’s State of Crypto 🌡️

  • ETH Staking Rewards Unlocked 🔓

  • Working in Web3 📝

Prices as of 9:00 AM ET

Today's edition is brought to you by Venom Foundation, the new blockchain for the next generation of digital services and products.

BITCOIN PASSES $30K 📈

There are two things we love:

1/ Waking up & realizing you still have 1 hour before your alarm goes off

2/ Bitcoin hitting a 10-month high

Both happened yesterday.

That’s right, Bitcoin was trading at $30K+ for the first time since June 10, 2022.

Google Finance

Why the steep rise? Investors are hoping today’s new inflation report will convince the Feds to start lowering interest rates.

Lower interest rates = more cash to deploy = riskier assets benefit, including crypto

The cherry on top? Bitcoin’s up 80% this year.

A16Z: THE STATE OF CRYPTO 🌡️

a16z dropped 2 new things Tuesday:

The Milk Man read the 60-page report so you don’t have to.

Here are the highlights:

1/ The number of active crypto addresses hit an all-time high

There were 15M in March. That’s more than twice what it was in March 2021, when prices were sky-high.

A16Z Crypto Report

What does that mean? More people are interacting with the space.

2/ Layer 2s make up ~7% of all Ethereum fees, up from 1.5% a year ago

L2s make the Ethereum network cheaper and quicker - they process transactions off-chain. It’s kinda like those airport walking things - makes it faster to get to your gate and helps keep the corridor unclogged.

The rise means more apps are building on them.

Scalability = onboarding more people = mass adoption

3/ The Merge brought Ethereum’s energy consumption down

The network switched to Proof of Stake in September. That meant blocks are no longer mined, which takes up a bunch of energy, but are now validated via staking.

A16Z Crypto Report

4/ The number of monthly active developers has risen steadily since 2020

It sits at 30K. That means devs cashed in on the crypto hype early, but have stuck around.

A16Z Crypto Report

5/ The U.S. may not be a Web3 leader

Crypto devs in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world fell 26% from 2018 to 2022. Why? Most fingers point to regulatory threats/confusion.

A16Z Crypto Report

The Milk Road Take: Despite all the hacks/scams, regulation B.S., and bankruptcies, crypto’s still growing.

Addresses are up. Devs are up. Life is alright.

It's all about that ~~perspective~~

The Venom Foundation is the new kid on the block-chain making a lot of noise with their announcements of their new $1B fund and partnerships with big players in the space.

Their mission is to be the infrastructure for the next generation of digital services and products.

The widely anticipated Shapella (or Shanghai) upgrade has finally arrived.

What’s happening? This will mark the end of Ethereum’s transition to Proof of Stake. Ethereum users will finally be able to unstake their ETH and claim staking rewards.

So what? Let’s look at the short-term and long-term impacts…

Short Term: Many think the Shapella upgrade will lead to a massive sell-off once users unstake their ETH. Some users have been staking since December 2020 and may want to take back control of their ETH. 2+ years of marinating a stake sounds pretty tasty…

  • Only 15% of Ethereum’s total supply is currently staked

  • A limit of ~$100M can be withdrawn each day because of how the withdrawals process works

  • Only 30% of ETH stakers are currently in a profit position

With a small percentage of stakers in the green, we think it's highly unlikely there will be a big sell-off following the Shapella upgrade.

Long-term: More ETH being staked will make the blockchain more secure. Those who have already staked will also be able to stake elsewhere, offering flexibility to holders and decentralizing the network further.

Shapella is a big upgrade. And everyone knows big upgrades can lead to big, unforeseen problems.

Blockchains are a lot like your house - you fix your kitchen sink and the next thing you know, you have a leak in your bathroom.

Luckily the Ethereum developers have gone through multiple tests before the big day. If all goes well with the upgrade and there are no problems with withdrawals - it could give assurance to more users & institutions to join in.

We're wishing nothing but the best to the homie Vitalik and the rest of the Ethereum developers. ✊

WEB3 WEDNESDAY 📝

Welcome back to Web3 Wednesday - where we highlight companies hiring for cool roles around the industry.

It's kinda like career day, except there are no parents around to embarrass you.

Here are some openings we found this week:

P.S. - Are you trying to hire in Web3? Learn how to get your open jobs in front of 250k+ crypto enthusiasts here.

MILKY MEMES 🤣

That's a wrap for today. Meet us on Twitter to talk all about it. It’s kinda like a family BBQ but better - no screaming kids, awkward photos, or drunk uncles telling weird stories (@MilkRoadDaily)

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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.

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