Things Worth Noting
Coinbase, the top U.S. crypto exchange, has acquired Echo—a blockchain platform for onchain fundraising—for $375 million in cash and stock. This marks Coinbase’s eighth buyout in 2025, announced October 21 amid booming crypto adoption under pro-industry Trump policies, including a national bitcoin reserve. Founded by crypto influencer Cobie (Jordan Fish), Echo has raised over $200 […]
The White House has flagged the US fertility rate’s drop to 1.6—below the 2.1 needed to sustain the population—as a national security threat. Historically high during the baby boom, birth rates have fallen since the 1970s due to delayed marriages, fewer teen births, and economic pressures like high housing and childcare costs. Health challenges, including […]
On October 20, 2025, a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage disrupted thousands of users worldwide, impacting websites and apps reliant on its cloud infrastructure. Starting around 3:00 AM EDT, the service interruption hit the US-EAST-1 region in North Virginia, causing elevated errors in services like DynamoDB and AWS Lambda. Over 15,000 users reported issues, […]
In May 2025, a 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class destroyer sank during its launch at North Korea’s Chongjin shipyard, dealing a blow to Kim Jong Un’s naval ambitions. The accident, caused by a faulty side launch and operational negligence, damaged the hull, delaying the warship’s debut. Kim condemned the failure as a “criminal act,” vowing to restore […]