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Bitcoin rises to a record above $69,000, then quickly tumbles 8%

Bitcoin, the premier cryptocurrency by market capitalization, recently peaked at $69,210 before experiencing a slight pullback. This significant rise, close to 200% over the past year following a drop to $13,000 in November 2022 during the FTX exchange debacle, is largely credited to the introduction of new exchange-traded funds and anticipation of the upcoming "halving" event that is expected to reduce bitcoin's supply next month.

Operating as a decentralized digital currency on a robust blockchain framework, bitcoin boasts a market value near $1.35 trillion. The network's miners, utilizing powerful computing setups, discover new blocks in the blockchain and are compensated in bitcoin—presently at a rate of 6.25 BTC per block discovered. This reward rate halves approximately every four years, a design feature set by the enigmatic creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, in 2008.

To date, around 94% of the total 21 million bitcoins have been mined, with projections suggesting the final bitcoin will be mined by the year 2140.

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Dartmouth hoops players vote to join local union

Yesterday, the Dartmouth men's basketball team made a significant move towards unionization with a 13-2 vote in favor, challenging the traditional amateurism in collegiate sports. This decision permits them to engage in negotiations concerning compensation and other key issues such as practice schedules. Dartmouth has a deadline of March 12 to contest the unionization decision.

This development follows a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board last month, which recognized the team's players as university employees. This came after the players petitioned the NLRB in September to be allowed to form a union, a move Dartmouth recently sought to overturn through a legal challenge to the NLRB's determination.

This step toward unionization is part of a wider movement advocating for the rights of student-athletes to receive fair compensation. Historically, the NCAA has restricted student-athletes from obtaining financial benefits beyond scholarships and certain educational expenses, with the Ivy League not offering athletic scholarships. However, the NCAA's December proposition for a new subdivision acknowledges the changing landscape, potentially allowing schools to engage in name, image, and likeness agreements with their athletes.

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Facebook, Instagram, and Threads were all down

Facebook, Instagram, and Threads have resumed normal operation after a disruption of approximately two hours that affected users globally. The downtime commenced around 10 a.m. ET, influencing not just the social platforms but also impacting some users' ability to log into their Meta Quest headsets.

On Facebook, users were unexpectedly signed out, Instagram enthusiasts found that they could not refresh their feeds, and Threads app users encountered a notification indicating an error and suggesting a retry. User reports of issues surged on Downdetector for all implicated platforms, and the online monitoring service NetBlocks confirmed the widespread nature of the outage. In contrast, WhatsApp continued to operate as usual during this period.

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