Bad Bunny, plummeting Bitcoin, and frozen iguanas

Bad Bunny emphasised love and unity in his Super Bowl halftime show. Keystone/Swissinfo

Welcome to our press review of events in the United States. Every Wednesday I look at how the Swiss media have reported and reacted to three major stories in the US – in politics, finance and science.

Until recently, NFL games were probably one of the last events in the US that managed to unite the nation in front of the small screen. Discover why this year’s Super Bowl rubbed many Republicans up the wrong way.

Bad Bunny performs with the flag of Puerto Rico during the Super Bowl on Sunday. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Many Swiss journalists stayed up into the small hours of Monday to watch this year’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks – or rather to watch the halftime entertainment. Why?

“Bad Bunny’s halftime show is a triumph over Trump,” was the headline in the Tages-Anzeiger in Zurich. “The musician from Puerto Rico does everything right at the US sporting event of the year. He subtly emphasises love and unity – and really whips MAGA fans into a frenzy.”

Yes, it was the choice of 31-year-old Puerto Rican rapper and singer Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, to perform at American football’s biggest game of the year that also whipped the world’s media into a frenzy. “The potentially explosive political dimension, added to the appeal of the man who is now the most popular artist in the world, created a cocktail never seen before,” raved Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

“Will Bad Bunny’s 12-minute half-time concert […] be political?” wondered Le Temps in Geneva, hours before kick-off in Santa Clara, California. “This is the big question that has agitated President Trump’s supporters and opponents this week, in the wake of the Puerto Rican singer’s triumph at the Grammy Awards where, in addition to his three awards, he urged Americans not to allow themselves to be contaminated by hatred and to kick out ICE, the now infamous immigration police, who murdered two people in Minneapolis [see previous briefing].”

Trump, who didn’t attend the game, called Bad Bunny’s set “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!”, adding that it was “an affront to the Greatness of America”. The fact that Bad Bunny sings almost exclusively in Spanish didn’t endear him to many Republicans. “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” Trump wrote on social media after the show.

As it turned out, Bad Bunny’s performance, which was watched by some 125 million viewers, wasn’t explicitly political. “The artist didn’t make any specific comments, but in the current times and global political situation, even celebrating love and inclusion is a highly political act,” said Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

For the Tages-Anzeiger, “the subtle messages were precisely where the power of this performance lay. When Bad Bunny slammed a football on the ground at the end, as if he’d just scored a touchdown, he was seen in front of a banner that read: ‘The only thing more powerful than hate is love’. And with this emphatically cheerful, life-affirming appearance in these dark times, he proved the point. The general uproar among Trump fans only confirms the thesis”.

Oh, the game? The Seahawks won 29-13.

• ‘Bad Bunny’s halftime show is a triumph over Trump’External link – Tages-Anzeiger (German, paywall)

• From Bad Bunny to Bruce Springsteen, when music is good… and politicalExternal link – Le Temps (French, paywall)

• Reaction on SRFExternal link, RTSExternal link and RSIExternal link (German, French, Italian)

• ‘Media hype surrounding Trump opponent Bad Bunny is completely exaggerated’External link – Weltwoche (German)

Are we entering a crypto winter? Keystone / Christian Beutler

“Bitcoin panic” declared the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) last week, as the cryptocurrency continued to freefall. Swiss media tried to explain what’s happening.

On Thursday Bitcoin “switched to crash mode”, the NZZ said. “Within a few hours, the digital reserve currency lost more than a tenth of its value and at times plummeted to almost $60,000 (CHF46,000). Bitcoin hasn’t lost this much since November 2022 and the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.”

For some people, it’s the start of a new “crypto winter”, the paper wrote. “Others even see the end of the ‘Bitcoin story’.” The NZZ pointed out that the cryptocurrency had lost more than half its value since its record high of over $126,000 in October. On Wednesday afternoon, one Bitcoin was worth around $66,700.

So what’s gone wrong? “What’s driving the new crypto crash and how dangerous is it?” asked Swiss public broadcaster SRF on Friday.

“Cryptocurrencies fluctuate strongly,” SRF’s economics editor acknowledged. “However, the bare figures are impressive.” Various factors had come together, she explained: the sale of everything to do with technology – “keyword AI hype” – and profit-taking: those who bought Bitcoin early are still making a profit if they sell now.

Bitcoin is also falling despite the crypto-friendliness of US President Donald Trump. “Trump wanted to make the US the number one crypto country,” SRF said. “He issued coins himself, and his family founded their own crypto companies. Their values have also collapsed. However, the decisive factor is that the deregulation announced by Trump is stalling. An important bill in this regard is not making progress in Congress because the banks are opposing it. In addition, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared this week that his department wouldn’t be able to stop the fall of Bitcoin with an intervention.”

As for what Bitcoin’s depreciation means for investors, “those without cryptocurrencies will only really have to worry if the crypto slump spreads to the traditional financial market”, SRF said. “This is not impossible, as many banks have also jumped on the bandwagon.”

• “Bitcoin panic”External link – NZZ (German, paywall)

• Explainer on cryptocurrency collapseExternal link – SRF (German)

• News report – SRFExternal link, RTSExternal link and RSIExternal link (German, French, Italian)

An iguana removal specialist collects cold-stunned as well as dead green iguanas from a property during a cold spell in Hollywood, Florida, on February 2. AFP / Getty Images

In Florida single-digit temperatures are killing thousands of iguanas, Swiss media reported last week. Many frozen reptiles are falling from trees, ending up as unwilling playmates for delighted dogs – or even on pizzas.

“Rarely do temperatures in the southernmost point of the US mainland fall below 20°C – and even more rarely do iguanas weighing several kilos fall from trees,” wrote the Tages-Anzeiger in Zurich. “However, an unusual cold snap is currently gripping parts of the US – and has triggered a bizarre phenomenon, almost a new hobby, in southern Florida: collecting frozen iguanas.”

Temperatures in the Sunshine State had dropped to single figures, the paper said, leaving thousands of the green lizards paralysed by the cold.

At temperatures below 10°C, the cold-blooded lizards slow down their body function, Swiss public television SRF explained. “This can lead to a cold torpor, in which the lizards lose their footing and fall to the ground. The phenomenon is well known in Florida and normally the lizards remain unharmed by the fall. This time, however, it’s a death sentence.”

Residents were given permission for two days to collect the frozen lizards, which are up to two metres long, and take them to the Florida Department of Wildlife Conservation. They are then killed humanely by experts or passed on to animal dealers outside the state.

Some, however, end up on menus: one resourceful restaurateur took advantage of the situation and offered iguana as a pizza topping, the Tages-Anzeiger said, noting that one guest had described the flavour as “froggy”. Iguanas are also appearing in tacos.

More than 5,000 iguanas have been handed in, according to SRF. Since the first sighting in the 1960s, the iguana population in Florida is estimated to have grown to about a million. Not everyone is happy about this, however. “The iguanas threaten native plant species and dig holes that damage pavements and houses,” SRF said.

• The falling iguana phenomenon – SRFExternal link and the Tages-AnzeigerExternal link (German)

The next edition of ‘Swiss views of US news’ will be published on Wednesday, February 18. See you then!

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