🌍 Bit(coin) of a comeback

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Here’s what you need to know

Bitcoin shot past $41,000 for the first time since April 2022... The world’s largest cryptocurrency is responding to the possibility that spot bitcoin exchange traded funds—or a pooled investment security that can be bought and sold like stocks—are close to being approved.

…while gold prices hit an all-time high. The $2,100 price per ounce reached yesterday comes as people turn toward the metal as an inflation hedge and a safe investment in times of conflict.

The UK announced new migration measures. A minimum salary threshold will be raised to £38,700 ($48,800) for migrant workers looking to get a work visa.

A big Swiss bank admitted to helping US taxpayers hide $5.6 billion from the Internal Revenue Service. As part of a settlement, Banque Pictet agreed to pay nearly $125 million in restitution and fees.

Latin America and the Caribbean are behind on their yearly climate goals by up to $2.8 trillion. The investment needed to reach those benchmarks is equivalent to between 3.7% and 4.9% of the area’s GDP.

Wages are even hotter than takeout food prices

No, you’re not imagining it—menu prices are rising. But US restaurant workers are seeing their pay increase even faster than food prices, and it’s helping to chip away at wage inequality.

In the last decade, restaurant workers’ wages have risen about 66%, while prices for food consumed outside the home have increased by 48%, according to a Quartz analysis of data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Quartz’s Michelle Cheng explains how this discrepancy came to be and how restaurants are responding to it.

Spotify’s employee count, wrapped

2,300: Number by which Spotify’s employee count has decreased since the start of the year

The Swedish music streamer has echoed several tech giants, including Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon—which over-hired during the pandemic and resorted to several rounds of job cuts this year—in blaming this downsizing decision on slow economic growth and rising capital costs. And like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek is chasing efficiency.

Quartz’s most popular

🐭 Nelson Peltz isn’t done asking for a seat at the Disney boardroom table

🛫 Pilots flying tourists over national parks are facing new rules, and none are stricter than at Mount Rushmore

🛬 Even with Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines is no match for the big four US carriers

👍 Economists are predicting that US inflation will keep cooling and the economy can avoid a recession

👎 Wall Street lost ground ahead of key reports on the job market

🇮🇳 Modi’s Hindu nationalist politics is working its charm with his target audience

Surprising discoveries

Tomato growers are trying to see if they can grow the plant with less water. It could become essential if we still want ketchup and pizza sauce in a warming world.

Did you know that humans have an interstitium? The organ wasn’t discovered until 2018, mostly because of humans’ belief systems.

Oxford’s word of the year is “rizz.” Even if you don’t know what it is, you may have it.

Spacetime may be wobbly. A new theory aims to bridge the gap between quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which work independently but not together.

A leaning tower had to be secured in Italy to stop it from collapsing. It wasn’t that one.

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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, climate change ketchup, and towers of pizza sauce to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.