World’s most prominent cryptocurrency peaked at $126,000 in October 2025, only to see its value slump steeply

Bitcoin ’s price sank to $63,000 on Thursday, its lowest level in more than a year, and half its all-time peak of $126,000, reached in October 2025. A months-long dip in cryptocurrency prices has tanked shares of companies that have increasingly invested in bitcoin, exacerbating broader stock market jitters.

Bitcoin rode a high during Donald Trump ’s ascent to the presidency in 2024 and throughout 2025; its price steadily increased as the president made one industry-friendly move after another. Crypto’s largest currency hit $100,000 for the first time in December 2024 and even rose to a record high of $126,210.50 on 6 October, according to Coinbase. But bitcoin’s valuation has dipped over the last few months, falling especially hard in January and the start of February.

Opposition MPs urge Labour to pause public contracts with the US tech firm after attempts to probe deals blocked

Labour should halt public contracts with the US tech company Palantir, opposition politicians have said, amid growing concern at the lack of government transparency over dealings with the company and Peter Mandelson .

Since 2023, Palantir has secured more than £500m in contracts with the NHS and the Ministry of Defence, while it employed Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Mandelson. Emails released by the US Department of Justice show Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein to find “rich individuals” as clients.

A leaked pitch to reshape Ethereum’s leadership exposed deep divisions over politics, power and ether’s static price

US crypto developer Danny Ryan submitted a proposal in November 2024 to Vitalik Buterin, the founder and symbolic leader of Ethereum, a prominent blockchain powering the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. Ryan, who had worked for seven years at the Ethereum Foundation (EF), Ethereum’s de facto governing body, suggested that Ethereum could be on the cusp of an era-defining shift.

Since its founding in 2014, the foundation had prioritized technical upgrades and had avoided centralizing power while its user base was growing, but Ethereum had now grown up, and the cryptocurrency world around it had grown up, too. The EF could now “exercise a stronger voice” without compromising its ethos of decentralization, Ryan said – and he was open to leading that charge if appointed as the foundation’s new executive director.

Founder’s extraordinary intervention has laid bare rising tensions between European governments and tech firms

• Europe live – latest updates

Spain has accused Pavel Durov of “spreading lies” and seeking to undermine democratic institutions after the Telegram founder used the messaging app to attack government plans to introduce a social media ban for under-16s and to hold tech companies responsible for hateful and harmful content.

Durov’s extraordinary public intervention – which came a day after Elon Musk called Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, a “true fascist totalitarian” over the proposed measures – reveals the rapidly escalating tensions between European governments and powerful global technology chiefs.

Whether you’re chasing gym quality on a budget or a fancy folding model, accelerate your training with our expert’s pick of the best running machines

• The best running shoes, tried and tested by runners
• The best running watches

Although the treadmill has been around since the early 1800s, when it was once used to punish prisoners (sounds about right), it didn’t become a common feature in the home until the late 1960s, when William Staub unleashed his PaceMaster 600 on the US public.

Where they were once a simple rolling deck, treadmills today are often glossy pieces of interactive tech. Many now offer on-demand, real-time workouts (pioneered by Peloton) and the latest blockbuster movies via streaming services. Even if your treadmill doesn’t sport a whopping touchscreen display, it probably works nicely with heart-rate monitors, smartwatches and smartphone apps to track workouts and offer performance statistics after every session.

Best treadmill overall:
Peloton Tread

Best budget treadmill:
JTX Slimline

Women in rural communities describe trauma of moderating violent and pornographic content for global tech companies

On the veranda of her family’s home, with her laptop balanced on a mud slab built into the wall, Monsumi Murmu works from one of the few places where the mobile signal holds. The familiar sounds of domestic life come from inside the house: clinking utensils, footsteps, voices.

On her screen a very different scene plays: a woman is pinned down by a group of men, the camera shakes, there is shouting and the sound of breathing. The video is so disturbing Murmu speeds it up, but her job requires her to watch to the end.

Compact and comfortable Pixel Buds have noise cancelling, decent battery life and good everyday sound

Google’s latest budget Pixel earbuds are smaller, lighter, more comfortable and have noise cancelling, plus a case that allows you to replace the battery at home.

The Pixel Buds 2a uses the design of the excellent Pixel Buds Pro 2 with a few high-end features at a more palatable £109 (€129/$129/A$239) price, undercutting rivals in the process.

Water resistance: IP54 (splash resistant)

Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4 (SBC, AAC)

Battery life: 7h with ANC (20h with case)

Earbud dimensions: 23.1 x 16 x 17.8mm

Earbud weight: 4.7g each

Driver size: 11mm

Charging case dimensions: 50 x 57.2 x 24.5mm

Charging case weight: 47.6g

Case charging: USB-C

Apparent collapse of Nvidia–OpenAI tie-up raises questions about circular funding and who will bear the cost of AI’s expansion

Did the circular AI economy just wobble? Last week it was reported that a much-discussed $100bn deal – announced last September – between Nvidia and OpenAI might not be happening at all.

This was a circular arrangement through which the chipmaker would supply the ChatGPT developer with huge sums of money that would largely go towards the purchase of its own chips.

Alphabet reports $34.5bn profit and revenue soars 48% in recent quarter as it plans a sharp increase in AI spending

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, and is planning a sharp increase in capital spending in 2026 as it continues to invest deeply in AI infrastructure.

Alphabet on Wednesday reported profit of $34.5bn in the recently ended quarter, as revenue from cloud computing soared 48%.