Online prediction platform, Polymarket, is starting to block IP addresses from VPNs and asking some users to identify themselves, The Information first reported. Due to regional regulations and international sanctions, Polymarket is blocked in 33 countries and several regions. But people in those places could, in theory, use a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, to mask their real location. According to The Information, Polymarket has now made it harder to use VPNs. It's blocking certain IP addresses associated with VPNs and blocking accounts with suspicious connection patterns. If it doesn't start enforcing its official policy, Polymarket could risk regulatory action, The Information reported. SEE ALSO: Meta faces employee backlash over tracking tool Polymarket is also apparently asking some customers for their identities to "access faster trading technology," the report states. This marks a shift from the market's previous model of anonymous trading, TechRadar reported.The news comes during a broader crackdown on VPNs in the U.S. and elsewhere. Utah now bans using VPNs to visit porn sites, though the law doesn't go into effect for Aylo websites like Pornhub until Sept. The UK is also considering a VPN ban for children following a spike in usage after the enactment of its age verification law, the Online Safety Act. Age verification laws require proof of age, like a government ID or a facial scan, to see explicit content or content otherwise deemed "harmful to minors." Two studies on the burgeoning laws state that they don't work to keep minors off porn sites, and instead infringe on adults' First Amendment rights in the case of U.S. laws. Last year, First Amendment experts warned Mashable of VPN bans as "second-order censorship." When people work around the initial law, in this case, age verification, then further regulations ensue.

See more visuals like this on the Voronoi app. Use This Visualization Ranked: The World’s Deepest Caves See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources. Key Takeaways Veryovkina Cave in Abkhazia, Georgia, is the world’s deepest known cave at 7,257 feet (2,212 meters), narrowly edging neighboring Krubera-Voronja by just 42 feet. Four of the 10 deepest caves are found in Abkhazia’s Arabika Massif, where soluble karst rock creates ideal conditions for deep cave systems. Many caves are still being explored, and a February 2026 expedition is attempting to prove Mexico’s Chevé Cave is the deepest of all. Scaling the world’s tallest mountains is a well-charted pursuit, but descending into the planet’s deepest caves remains one of exploration’s last frontiers. The world’s deepest cave plunges nearly seven times deeper than the Eiffel Tower is tall, descending 7,257 feet (2,212 meters) into the Earth. Seven of the 10 deepest caves reach more than a mile underground, and four of the deepest are clustered in a single karst mountain region in Abkhazia, Georgia. This visualization shows the depth of the 10 deepest caves on Earth, using data from WorldAtlas, which measures their explored vertical depth from the highest entrance down to the lowest point reached. The 10 Deepest Caves in the World Veryovkina holds only a slim lead as the deepest cave in the world. At 7,257 feet (2,212 meters), it sits just 42 feet deeper than neighboring Krubera-Voronja, which reaches 7,215 feet (2,199 meters) and held the world record for more than a decade before explorers pushed Veryovkina past it in the same Caucasus massif. The data table below lists the world’s 10 deepest caves in feet and meters, along with the country where each is located: RankCaveDepth (feet)Depth (meters)Country 1Veryovkina 7,2572,212 Georgia / Abkhazia 2Krubera-Voronja 7,2152,199 Georgia / Abkhazia 3Sarma 6,0041,830 Georgia / Abkhazia 4Snezhnaja 5,7741,760 Georgia / Abkhazia 5Lamprechtsofen5,6921,735 Austria 6Gouffre Mirolda5,6861,733 France 7Gouffre Jean-Bernard5,3051,617 France 8Sistema del Cerro del Cuevón5,2131,589 Spain 9Hirlatzhöhle5,1181,560 Austria 10Sistema Huautla5,1181,560 Mexico After the top two, the rankings remain tightly packed: eight of the 10 deepest caves fall between roughly 5,100 and 6,000 feet deep. Third-place Sarma reaches 6,004 feet (1,830 meters) and is considered so hazardous that only professional speleologists are permitted to attempt it. It is followed by Snezhnaja at 5,774 feet (1,760 meters) and Austria’s Lamprechtsofen at 5,692 feet (1,735 meters), rounding out the planet’s five deepest caves. Why the Deepest Caves Cluster in Abkhazia The clustering at the top is no accident. Four of the 10 deepest caves, and five of the 20 deepest, lie within Abkhazia’s Arabika Massif, a block of thick, soluble limestone in the Western Caucasus. Over millions of years, rain and meltwater seep through cracks in this karst rock and slowly dissolve it into vast vertical shafts. Together, high mountains, heavy precipitation, and thick limestone create the conditions for cave systems that can drop thousands of feet underground. It’s a different mechanism from the one that produces the world’s deepest lakes, which owe their depth to tectonic rift basins rather than dissolving rock, but the result is similarly concentrated geography. Beyond the Caucasus, the deepest caves sit in the limestone ranges of the Alps and Pyrenees, with entries in Austria, France, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, and Türkiye. To see how cave depths compare to the oceans and the deepest holes humans have ever drilled, explore this deep dive into Earth’s vertical extremes. The World’s Deepest Caves Are Still Being Explored Because a cave’s depth is defined by how far explorers have physically reached, these rankings are always provisional. Many of the listed caves are thought to extend well beyond their currently known floors, and a newly discovered connection between two separate systems can rewrite the order overnight. The most closely watched contest is in Mexico. In February 2026, a U.S. Deep Caving Team expedition set out to link Chevé Cave with a lower system, a connection that, if confirmed, could make Chevé the deepest cave on Earth and unseat Veryovkina. For now, the title still belongs to the Caucasus. Learn More on the Voronoi App To learn more about our planet, check out this visualization on Voronoi, which breaks down what the Earth is made of.

Dutch authorities have announced the takedown of a botnet that enslaved millions of infected devices, including computers, tablets, smartphones, and IoT devices, to carry out malicious attacks. The bot network, per the Dutch Politie and the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), consisted of at least 17 million infected devices. More than 200 servers located in the Netherlands acted as the