Today’s edition is brought to you by HODL.money – a DeFi trading platform that allows users to take leveraged positions with no liquidation, expiry, volatility drift, or funding rates.*

Learn how to get started here. 

GM. This is Milk Road, your crypto caffeine fix – perking up your portfolio with humor and insight.

Here's what's on the agenda today:

• Green light: ETH ETF has been approved 🎉 

• Its Funding Friday 🤑

• Graph of the day: Who owns BTC ETFs ❓

• U.S. House passes CBDC anti-surveillance state act 🍪

GREEN LIGHT: ETH ETF HAS BEEN APPROVED 🎉

I repeat, ETH ETF has been approved. The Milk Man is happier than a dog with two tails!

And there was no better tweet announcing the approval than this one 🤣:

With the SEC's nod, here are the 8 Ethereum ETFs that got the golden ticket:

• Grayscale Ethereum Trust

• Bitwise Ethereum ETF

• ⁠iShares Ethereum Trust (BlackRock)

• ⁠VanEck Ethereum Trust

• ⁠ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF

• ⁠Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF

• ⁠Fidelity Ethereum Fund

• ⁠Franklin Ethereum ETF

All that remains is the approval of the S-1 documents, which will take some time. The general vibe is that they’re expected to take a few weeks, but it could drag on longer.

What the heck is the S-1? It's the document that spells out the ETFs’ structure, management, and investment strategy. 

Think of it as the final touches—the last bit of paperwork standing in the way of the ETF hitting the trading floor!

Even more good news: the SEC has reportedly started chatting with the Ethereum ETF issuers about those S-1 registration statements.

What a wild week! Besides the ETF getting the thumbs up, here are this week's wins for the crypto world:

1/ FIT21

The FIT21 bill had a landslide victory in the House with a 278 to 136 vote. Next up, it heads to the Senate.

2/ SAB 121

Last week, The US Senate gave a big thumbs down to the SEC's SAB 121. 

We explained the details of SAB 121 earlier this week, but to summarize: it's bad for crypto. So, the Senate voting against it is very, very good! Another L for Gary Gensler!

All that’s left is for Biden to accept or veto the Senate’s decision. No decision was made this week, but the chances of SAB 121 getting tossed out have skyrocketed! 

The veto deadline is May 28th. Bullish!

3/ FDIC

FDIC Chair, Martin Gruenberg, the mastermind behind Operation Chokepoint 2.0 targeting the digital asset industry, is stepping down. 

With Gruenberg out, it's a breath of fresh air for crypto!

With all this bullish news, people are scratching their heads, asking why $ETH is in the red today. This tweet from Mike Dudas nails it 😂:

Folks are something else. They forget $ETH added $SOL’s entire market cap just two days ago. It’s like striking oil and then whining because there’s no diamond mine too! 😂

All in all, huge win for $ETH: the SEC basically has said it's a commodity, which means less regulatory headaches for Ethereum 

Plus, it looks like the US is finally getting its act together and becoming more crypto-friendly!

Lastly, it’s Friday and the Weekly Rollup just hit Milk Road Radio — where we dive in further on everything that has played out over the last week.

Tune in for the juicy details! 🎧👇

YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

IT’S FUNDING FRIDAY 🤑

Welcome back to Funding Friday! This week, $230.5M total was raised by crypto companies.

1/ Farcaster Raises $150M

What they do: Farcaster is a decentralized social network protocol aiming to give users control over their data.

Who led the round: Paradigm, with participation from a16z crypto.

Farcaster is turning the social media game on its head, making it as decentralized as your uncle's backyard Wi-Fi.

2/ Fantom Foundation Raises $10M

What they do: Fantom is a high-performance, scalable blockchain platform for DeFi, crypto dApps, and enterprise applications.

Who led the round: Hashed, with participation from Signum Capital

Fantom is speeding up blockchain transactions faster than you can say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

3/ Dora Factory Raises $10M

What they do: Dora Factory is a DAO-as-a-Service infrastructure on Polkadot and Ethereum, enabling open-source projects to operate and fund themselves.

Who led the round: Nomad Capital

Dora Factory is like the Swiss Army knife for DAOs, ready to cut through the red tape of decentralized governance.

Honorable Mentions:

• Plume Network raises $10M for its seed round to bring real-world assets onchain, led by Haun Ventures.

• Kelp DAO raises $9M to ramp up its restaking platform features and enter new ecosystems such as Solana and Bitcoin. Funding led by SCB Limited and Laser Digital, with contributions from Bankless Ventures.

Also, word on Sandhill Road is…

VC’s are deploying capital they have stockpiled so they don’t have to give it back to LP’s (limited partners who contribute the capital to a fund). 

If they have to give it back they don’t earn those sweet management fees… As always, we will keep an eye on where the money flows 👀

GRAPH OF THE DAY: WHO OWNS BTC ETF ❓ 

Here’s a fascinating nugget for your day…

Turns out, retail Investors are dominating the Bitcoin ETF scene, holding roughly 85% of the SPOT ETFs. Yep, you read that right—85%. 

The graph the Milk Man found shows the TOTAL breakdown (SPOT and FUTURES):

With retail still making up the biggest chunk at 41.5%...

For now, institutions are just along for the ride, a lot of firms are likely waiting on 238 layers of approvals from their investment committee before they come out and play.

This begs the question, Retail is back, right?!

Now, not so fast young milk pint, let’s pour up some Coinbase volume numbers for clarity here:

Coinbase Volume: Q4 2021 vs Q1 2024

• Retail: $177B vs $56B 

• Institutional: $371B vs. $256B 

SO, retail is only 31% back while Institutions are 69% back in the game since the last bull run!

Why should you care?

This kind of retail dominance is pretty rare for ETFs, which are usually the playground of hedge funds and big-time advisers.

Just think about it: In a world where it takes months or even years for these funds to get approved, retail investors are showing up early and in droves.

If you're one of those retail investors, give yourself a pat on the back—we’re in the driver’s seat for now!

We want to know, who do YOU think is more important to crypto?

A/ Retail

B/ Institutional 

Hit reply and let us know with your comments!

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

The world's largest and longest-running global event for crypto and Web3 is happening in Austin NEXT WEEK. Get your IRL or Virtual pass now and save 20% with code MILKROAD.*

U.S. House Passes CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. The bill aims to keep the Feds out of your digital wallet by blocking them from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Privacy fans, rejoice!  – DL NEWS

Coinbase Reopens XRP Trading for New Yorkers. The relisting follows a 2023 court ruling that secondary XRP sales aren't securities. NYC is back in the game and it's another win for the crypto community. 

RIP Kabosu, The Iconic Shiba Inu Behind Dogecoin. Kabosu, the face that launched a thousand meme coins, has passed away at the age of 18. The dog that made crypto fun will always be in our hearts and the Milk Man will be attending the funeral. 

Ethereum ETF Hype Boosts Ethena’s USDe by $100M. Excitement over a potential Ethereum ETF has sent Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, soaring to a $2.55B market cap. That’s one hefty jump for a synthetic buck! 

Wanna team up with the Milk Man? We currently have 3 positions open – check ‘em out and apply here!

*This is sponsored content

MILKY MEMES 🤣

RATE TODAY’S EDITION

ROADIE REVIEW OF THE DAY 🥛

ROADIE REPLY OF THE DAY 🥛

In yesterday’s daily we asked you whether or not the ETH ETF would be approved yesterday… well 73% of you voted YES!

And here is the reply of the day:

VITALIK PIC OF THE DAY

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.