To open the Bitcoin 2022 conference yesterday, host city Miami unveiled a 3,000-pound bull statue intended to showcase the city as the “future of finance.”

Like most things about Miami’s push to become a global crypto hub, it’s unclear whether we’re looking at a bull or just…bull.

Details on the event: More than 25,000 attendees have arrived in Miami to hear major announcements and knock back mojitos with the most influential people in crypto. No surprise here, but they’re hyped about the potential of blockchain technology to disrupt traditional finance. Billionaire investor Michael Novogratz said yesterday that once the Fed stops hiking interest rates, “bitcoin goes to the moon.”

• Right now, the world’s largest cryptocurrency is struggling to hit orbit: It’s down ~30% from its November peak.

The conference may say less about bitcoin than the city of Miami, whose mayor, Francis Suarez, has waged an all-out campaign to attract crypto companies during the pandemic. With palm trees and low taxes forming the backbone of his sales pitch, Suarez has transformed Miami into a serious crypto player. VC funding of Miami-area crypto companies exploded from $6 million in 2020 to $745 million the next year, according to PitchBook.

Still, Miami has lots of catching up to do if it actually wants to be the “future of finance.” Crypto firms in San Francisco raised $7.4 billion last year, and NYC firms raised $4.7 billion. Miami is fifth in the US for VC investment in crypto startups.

Plus, Miami will need to back up its marketing machine with real-world results. It’s great and all that the Miami Heat’s arena is now named after crypto exchange FTX, but the city lacks a top-tier university, like Stanford—which feeds talent into Silicon Valley. No offense to The U.

Bottom line: The fact that we’re even talking about Miami is a win for the city’s crypto ambitions.

For more crypto insights, watch this video on how the US is planning to regulate it.—NF

Dems blame energy execs for high gas prices. In a congressional hearing yesterday, US oil execs were grilled microwaved (propane’s too expensive) by Democrats, who accused them of jacking up gas prices for consumers while pocketing higher profits. Leaders from Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and other energy firms said they had little control over oil prices, which have surged nearly 70% since last year.

The US announced tougher sanctions on Russia. Citing Russian “war crimes” in Ukraine, the US slapped “full blocking sanctions” (the most severe possible) on two giant Russian banks, Sberbank and Alfa-Bank. The US also sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and banned new American investments in Russia.

Would you buy a flight on Uber? The company is testing a feature that would let you book long-distance travel (planes, trains, buses) in the UK this summer, reviving its plans of creating a travel super app. Sounds like they’re just bringing back Uber Pool…

You might need to find something else to dye this Easter—maybe the ham? The US, a leading meat and egg producer, is suffering its worst avian flu outbreak since 2015, and a major bird shortage could cause already inflated poultry prices to go even higher.

• Almost 23 million birds have either been killed by the virus or had to be culled to stop the spread.

Poultry producers have déjà flu: Seven years ago, nearly 50 million birds were killed by an avian flu outbreak. This time around, flocks in 24 states have been infected since the first cases were detected in January.

• The virus is so contagious that if it’s detected in just one chicken, the entire flock must be killed.
• Even zoos, which haven’t seen any outbreaks yet, are ramping up protections for birds in their exhibits. The only birds you might catch a glimpse of on your zoo trip are penguins, since they already have glass barriers protecting them.

Zoom out: The only real risk avian flu poses to humans is through the price of chicken parm. The average price of chicken breasts in the US rose 79 cents per pound from last week, and currently stands $1.45 higher than a year ago, according to the Agriculture Department.—MM

If you ever wanted to feel like a Hunger Games competitor, you may get your chance soon: After years of hype, drone delivery companies are beginning to roll out delivery services across the US.

Alphabet-owned Wing will let its delivery drones loose today in Dallas, where it’s partnering with stores like Walgreens and Blue Bell Creameries to place Band-Aids and ice cream on your porch. But there’s a lot of competition in the (un)friendly skies:

• Israeli startup Flytrex announced last week that it’s also kicking off commercial delivery in Dallas, Texas.
• Zipline teamed up with Walmart to roll out a limited delivery service late last year and plans to expand the partnership.

But progress has been slower than LGA renovations. Amazon, which stirred up the initial wave of drone delivery excitement in 2013, is still running tests…and they’re not all going well. Getting drones out of their tiny hangars and into the air has been a slog, in part because of strict airspace regulations. The FAA has to approve every drone delivery project, verifying that the drones are passenger-aircraft-level safe.

Flytrex’s CEO told the WSJ that the FAA’s approach “has always been, crawl, walk, run—hopefully we are now getting to the walk part.”—JW

How many of you have made a dish after seeing it made on TikTok? Okay, all 4 million of you can put your hands down.

To get the inside scoop on the recipe behind the recipes, we talked to a top food content creator on the platform, H Woo Lee. Some gems from the conversation:

• Lee previously had some side gigs in the food industry, but after the pandemic hit, he became a full-time FoodToker.
• His first TikTok video to blow up was this one where he made wagyu steak.
• Lee said he’s one of the first to create ASMR cooking videos for TikTok, which rely on editing kitchen noises—a knife hitting the chopping board, broth bubbling in the pot, the blender swirling—into percussion tempos and even euphonic rhythm.

Bottom line: “It ain’t rocket science, it’s just shrimp tempura,” Lee told the Brew.

Read our full deep dive into “food TikTok” here.

Stat: Traveling somewhere but experiencing none of the culture has never been more popular. Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator, said the week ending April 3 was its busiest week of bookings in history.

Quote: “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

Ed Sheeran won his copyright case over “Shape of You” yesterday, but still thinks allegations of plagiarism are far too common given the constraints of popular music. “There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music,” he said. Stevie Wonder would like a word.

Read: The remarkable brain of a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages. (The Washington Post)

Calling all tech enthusiasts: From smartphones to wearables, streaming to gaming, and everything in between—The Daily Authority will make you a tech expert in no time. Sign up for free.

Where does your salary stack up? Find your percentile position in income distributions around the world.

For the film buffs (and anyone else, we suppose): A workflow breakdown of every 2022 Oscars best picture nominee.

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Three headlines and a lie

Three of these news headlines are real and one is faker than fat-free ranch dressing. Can you guess the odd one out?

1. Extra N95? MoMA is collecting used masks for Covid retrospective
2. These buzzed monkeys could help explain why we love drinking
3. Burger King Whopper 35 percent smaller than in ads, lawsuit says
4. Cracker Jack gets a partner in crunch with Cracker Jill