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Here’s what you need to know
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is keeping a tight grip on crypto. While mulling a lawsuit against Coinbase, regulators went after crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and the celebrities who backed his products.
The Federal Reserve hiked its key interest rate. The quarter-point increase signals that the Fed thinks recent panic in the banking sector will be contained.
Starbucks employees at 100 US stores went on strike. Workers welcomed new CEO Laxman Narasimhan with a walkout ahead of the company’s annual meeting today.
Relativity Space successfully launched its 3D-printed rocket. Terran 1’s launch marked a milestone even though it failed to reach orbit.
A glimpse of Russia’s new energy dominance in China
There were a lot of chummy exchanges between Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow this week. If deeds do indeed speak louder than words, then the growing energy trade between China and Russia only underpins the two countries’ evolving—and ever more complicated—relationship.
TikTok’s CEO will testify
TikTok chief Shou Zi Chew appears before the US Congress today. He’ll be grilled on:
🛡️ TikTok’s consumer privacy and data security practices
🧒 The platform’s impact on kids
🇨🇳 TikTok’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party
Chew has a plan to persuade lawmakers that any proposed bans are unnecessary, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough to dissuade their waning trust in the app.
Who are the IMF’s top debtors?
Ukraine just got the International Monetary Fund’s first war-time loan. But the country is far from new to going to the IMF for money—in fact, it’s one of the organization’s top debtors.
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For sale: A vintage Silicon Valley Bank Christmas sweater. It could’ve been yours for $35.
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Father of capitalism Adam Smith never mentioned “capitalism” once in his writing. Learn more about the misconceptions surrounding the Scottish economist’s foundational ideas in the latest episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast.
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