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GM. This is Milk Road, where crypto meets comedy for your daily blockchain fix.

Here’s what we got for you today:

$BLAST IS HERE: WHAT MAKES THIS L2 STAND OUT? 🤔 

Attention, Roaders. The $BLAST airdrop has finally dropped! 

I repeat, the $BLAST airdrop has landed! 🛬

But the Milk Man isn’t here to talk about airdrops today, instead let’s talk about what has blast booming.

Blast is a Layer 2 blockchain built on Ethereum, making your digital transactions faster and cheaper.

So what makes Blast so special?

It’s got a sweet feature that helps you earn extra yield on your $ETH and stablecoins ($USDB) without lifting a finger (more on this later).

Plus, it was created by Pacman, the brains behind Blur (a leading NFT marketplace) and this new blockchain is growing like a weed!

So, let’s roll up our sleeves and see what’s under the hood.

Blast’s growth has been insane. Currently, it’s the 4th largest Layer 2 by TVL with a staggering $1.6B. 

Shockingly, it’s also the youngest among the top dogs. Launched publicly in February, Blast is just 4 months old.

But hold on, Blast’s success is not just limited to TVL…

Blast's daily transactions and user base have been booming, hitting new all-time highs. 

This explosive growth has made Blast the 3rd highest chain regarding user-paid fees, raking in 48K in daily fee revenue, just behind Base and Optimism.

Blast making this much in fees shows they have a solid business model. They’re not just surviving; they’re thriving!

The Milk Man loves seeing protocols that can keep the lights on. 

Plus, due to a couple cool features, Blast has a higher percentage of native dApps than any other blockchain (L1 or L2).

(A “Blast native dApp” is a decentralized application that can only be found on Blast)

One of those cool features we mentioned above is Blast’s native yield bearing mechanism (sounds boring but stick with me here).

On Blast, both $ETH and $USDB earn yield automatically. It just sits in your wallet and you see the number go up without having to do anything. 📈

For $ETH, it's about a 4% native yield that comes from Lido liquid staked Ether (stETH). For $USDB, the 8% yield comes from Maker interest fees.

So just to recap, Blast has strong leadership, insane growth and a cool new way for users to earn low risk yield… Damn!

🥛 Milk Road Take: It's pretty impressive what Blast has achieved in such a short time; at the end of the day, it's bringing innovations no other L2s have. 

Their unique yield mechanism works like a magnet, attracting TVL like crazy.

And let’s not forget the point system, which was a key incentive to draw in even more users and airdrop farmers.

Tune in to our latest episode of The Milk Road Show where we discuss with Zeneca all the alpha to get the most out of the Blast ecosystem vision. 🪂

YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

ETH FEES LOWEST IN 5 YEARS… BEARISH OR BULLISH? 🤔 

Riddle me this: Ethereum’s activity is through the roof, yet gas prices are doing the limbo, aka how low can they go? 

That’s like trying to book a table at the hottest restaurant and finding out they’re offering happy hour prices all night. Weird, right…

So what’s the deal with $ETH right now?

Well here’s the tea: Ethereum gas prices have hit their lowest point in the past five years.

That’s right, the median gas price has dropped more than my confidence in my cooking skills.

Yet… the Ethereum ecosystem is settling more transactions than ever before…

AND Ethereum is powering the most users it ever has…

So what are the takeaways here?

This drop in gas prices isn’t just a fluke. It’s the Ethereum scaling roadmap doing its thing, making the network more efficient. 

It's scaling Ethereum at a factor of over 21x…

The scaling factor of 21x means that Ethereum's network capacity has increased by 21 times. 

Think of it like this: If Ethereum was a single-lane road, it’s now a 21-lane superhighway.

Layer 2’s allow a lot more cars (transactions) to travel smoothly without causing traffic jams (high gas fees). 🚗 🛣️

But, all of the traffic being moved off Ethereum and onto it’s L2s has caused some concern…

People worry that because of this shift in traffic to L2s, $ETH will no longer be deflationary (lower fees on Ethereum = less $ETH burned)

And to their point, $ETH has recently become inflationary (0.449% over the last 30 days),

BUT, it still has half the inflation Bitcoin has seen in the same timeframe:

AND if you zoom out, it’s still deflationary since the merge:

So, while Ethereum might have some temporary inflation, it’s still better than the King (Bitcoin) and it isn’t necessarily here to stay…

🥛 Milk Road Take: As Layer 2 solutions grow, they’ll consume more of Ethereum’s blockspace, potentially driving fees back up.

Ultimately, the result is Ethereum enabling transactions at scale for less than a penny via L2s, while also being a deflationary asset.

This is the gwei! ⛽

Overall, the increase in transactions and user adoption is a bullish sign that may be picking up steam.

MILK ROAD PRO PORTFOLIO UPDATES 📊 

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… the Milk Man sharing his latest portfolio changes.

Like clock-work, every Thursday, we’re here to share our updated list of investments from the Milk Road PRO Portfolio. 

Disclosure: We are not a day trading portfolio so don’t expect a high volume of trades.

Read our “how to build a crypto portfolio in 2024” report to learn more about our portfolio strategy.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE 📉

The Milk Road PRO Portfolio saw a slight decrease over the past 7 days. Our portfolio value is at $106.4K, down 2.8% since last week.

PORTFOLIO CHANGES 👀

BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪

ZKX's new staking program is live! Stake ZKX to earn USDC and the longer you stake, the more you can earn. Why let your crypto lay around when it could be growing? Start today! *

Coinbase takes legal action against SEC and FDIC. The lawsuits against the SEC and FDIC are under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The exchange is seeking information about regulatory actions and closed SEC investigations, including one on Ethereum. 

Lobbying group is 33-2 backing pro-crypto candidates in US primary elections. Fairshake, with heavyweights like Ripple and Coinbase behind it, is spending over $100M to push pro-crypto candidates in Congress. Who knew crypto lobbyists were this good at politics?

Investment manager VanEck files to list spot Solana ETF. VanEck is aiming to launch the first spot Solana ETF in the US. Solana, known for its speed and low transaction costs, might soon have its own ETF, adding another feather to its blockchain cap.

The US government just shifted nearly $241 million in Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime. This stash, seized from a Silk Road vendor, is stirring market rumors about a possible sell-off. First the Germans, now the US, eh?

*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.