WATCHING TODAY:
1. Why does Kyiv seem so strangely calm? Der Spiegel reports Russian troops have amassed near Ukraine’s borders, but the government in Kyiv seems oddly calm and detached. Why are President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top politicians playing down the threat?
2. Big Tech needs to stop trying to make their metaverse happen: Wired reports from Microsoft to Meta, the race is on to sell an amorphous concept that no one really wants them to build.
3. A crypto breakthrough? Western states consider taking digital currency: Politico reports proposals in Wyoming and Arizona to accept tax payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would undermine the dollar’s unique status.
4. Coachella will sell lifetime festival passes as NFTs: The Verge reports owners of the 10 lifetime NFTs will get tickets every year.
5. The loneliest mountaineer on Everest: NYT reports the German climber Jost Kobusch is attempting to be the first to scale the world’s tallest mountain in winter alone without supplemental oxygen. There’s nobody else out there.
