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The government has announced it is effectively ending all prosecutions related to crimes committed during the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Described as a de facto amnesty for former British soldiers and former paramilitaries, the new statute of limitations will apply to incidents prior to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

It was confirmed in parliament on Wednesday by Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis.

Two women walk past mural depicting victims of the troubles in west Belfast as talks continue on transferring policing and justice powers from London to Belfast
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Many victims say they can’t believe veterans would want an amnesty that also applies to the very terrorists who murdered their comrades

“We know that the prospect of the end of criminal prosecutions will be difficult for some to accept and this is not a position we take lightly,” he told MPs.

“But we’ve come to the view that this is the best and only way to facilitate an effective information retrieval and provision process, and the best way to help Northern Ireland move further along the road to reconciliation.

“It is in reality a painful recognition of the very reality of where we are.”

Mr Lewis said it was “clear the current system for dealing with the legacy of the Troubles is not working”.

More on Northern Ireland

“It’s now a difficult, in fact painful, truth that the focus on criminal investigations is increasingly unlikely to deliver successful criminal justice outcomes, but all the while it continues to divide communities and it fails to obtain answers for a majority of victims and families,” he added.

Mr Lewis said the government would legislate to set up a new independent body to focus on the recovery and provision of information about Troubles-related deaths and most serious injuries.

“This body will be focused on helping families to find out the truth of what happened to their loved ones. Where families do not want the past raked over again they would be able to make this clear,” he said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis
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Mr Lewis said it was ‘clear the current system for dealing with the legacy of the Troubles is not working’

“For those families that want to get answers, the body will have the full powers to seek access to information and find out what happened.”

The move is opposed by all five of the main political parties in Northern Ireland and by the Irish government.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it would be “rejected by everyone in Northern Ireland who stands for justice and the rule of law”.

It has been driven by a government pledge to end the historical prosecution of soldiers who served in Northern Ireland.

But many victims say they can’t believe veterans would want an amnesty that also applies to the very terrorists who murdered their comrades.

It is 30 years since Kathleen Gillespie’s husband Patsy was murdered in a particularly brutal IRA attack.

They chained him to a van containing a bomb, held his family at gunpoint and ordered him to drive it to a military base.

The 1,200lb bomb exploded at the Coshquin base near the border, killing the father-of-three and five British soldiers.

Kathleen said: “I feel robbed. I have this thing in my head that when it’s an important person that’s been killed, their thing is investigated and their thing is solved.

“We’re just the ordinary common people so it’s alright to push us to the one side,” she added.

Thirteen civilians were shot dead and a 14th fatally wounded when the British Parachute Regiment opened fire in Londonderry in January 1972.

Only one veteran was charged with murder but the case against ‘Soldier F’ was halted last week by public prosecutors.

Mickey McKinney, whose brother William was one of the victims, feels an amnesty only adds to the pain of Bloody Sunday.

Forty-nine years on, his memories of 30 January, 1972, remain vivid and he is fiercely opposed to any statute of limitations in Northern Ireland.

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July: Troubles case against ex-soldiers ends

He recalled: “We were trying to escape the effects of the gas and I remember turning round and I saw the Paras coming in.

“I don’t trust the British government. Would you trust them if they murdered your brother and told lies about him?”

Relatives of victims of the Birmingham pub bombings have described the plans as “obscene”.

Julie Hambleton, whose older sister Maxine was among 21 people killed in the 1974 blasts in Birmingham, has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on behalf of the Justice 4 The 21 campaign group to decry the planned legislation.

“Tell me prime minister, if one of your loved ones was blown up beyond recognition, where you were only able to identify your son or daughter by their fingernails because their face had been burned so severely from the blast and little of their remains were left intact, would you be so quick to agree to such obscene legislation being implemented?” Ms Hambleton asked.

“You would do everything in your power to find the murderers and bring them to justice, which is exactly what we campaign for every day.”

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Ex-SEC chair, now heading SDNY, offers rebuke in $12M crypto fraud case

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Ex-SEC chair, now heading SDNY, offers rebuke in M crypto fraud case

Ex-SEC chair, now heading SDNY, offers rebuke in M crypto fraud case

Jay Clayton, recently appointed interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has begun offering statements in criminal cases involving crypto fraud.

In an April 23 notice, the US Attorney’s Office said Eugene William Austin, also known as Hugh Austin, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison following his conviction on conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. Together with his son, Brandon, sentenced to four years, Austin offered fraudulent crypto investment services, resulting in roughly $12 million in losses to more than 24 people.

“For years, Hugh Austin was the leader of a fraud and money laundering scheme that stole more than $12 million from more than two dozen victims,” said Clayton. “Austin involved his own son in his crimes, working with him to rip off victims and spending investor money on personal expenses, like luxury hotels […] Austin will now be held accountable for the harm he caused to individual investors and others.”

The criminal case involving digital assets marked one of Clayton’s first public statements since becoming the interim US Attorney on April 22. US President Donald Trump nominated Clayton on Jan. 20 when he took office. The district has since seen the resignation of acting US Attorney Danielle Sassoon in response to the Justice Department directing her to halt a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Related: US prosecutors file over 200 victim statements in Celsius ex-CEO’s case

The nation’s ‘sovereign district’ overseen by a Trump appointee?

Under current law, Clayton can serve as interim US Attorney for the district for 120 days without Senate confirmation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked a vote on Clayton’s nomination, saying Trump had “no fidelity to the law.”

Clayton will likely oversee SDNY during the sentencing hearing for former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky and potentially other criminal cases involving cryptocurrency. The district is home to ​​Wall Street firms and many of the country’s most prominent financial institutions. 

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

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SEC task force met with Trump-supporting firms to discuss crypto regulation

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SEC task force met with Trump-supporting firms to discuss crypto regulation

SEC task force met with Trump-supporting firms to discuss crypto regulation

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crypto task force, headed by Hester Peirce, has continued meeting with digital asset company representatives as the agency explores regulatory changes.

In an April 24 notice, the SEC task force disclosed a meeting with representatives from crypto firm Ondo Finance and the law firm Davis Polk and Wardwell to discuss “issuing and selling wrapped, tokenized versions of publicly traded US securities.” Ondo Finance donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, and the law firm announced on April 22 that it would represent the US President’s social media company, Truth Social, to launch crypto-linked exchange-traded funds.

According to the meeting request, Ondo Finance planned to discuss registration requirements for tokenized securities, compliance with financial laws, and potentially launching a regulatory sandbox. Cointelegraph reached out to the firm for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The April 24 meeting was the latest in the SEC crypto task force’s outreach to the industry following the departure of former chair Gary Gensler. Former commissioner and Trump appointee Paul Atkins took over leadership at the agency on April 21 after his swearing-in ceremony, but has yet to take action on his proposed crypto agenda.

Related: Chiliz meets with SEC Crypto Task Force amid US market reentry plans

Continuing outreach to industry under new SEC chair

On April 25, the crypto task force will host a roundtable event to discuss custody, including representatives from Kraken, Anchorage Digital Bank, WisdomTree, and others. Following the approval of crypto exchange-traded funds in 2024, many financial institutions have seen demand for digital asset custody in the US grow significantly.

It’s unclear what the SEC’s intentions may be regarding pursuing crypto enforcement cases under Atkins. The commission has stated it will continue cases involving fraudulent activity, but dropped a complaint against Hex founder Richard Heart on April 21.

The agency has already announced it will stop investigations or lawsuits against many firms, including Ripple, Coinbase, and Kraken. All three exchanges donated or had executives who supported Trump’s 2024 campaign or inauguration fund.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

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The hidden risk of updatable firmware

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The hidden risk of updatable firmware

The hidden risk of updatable firmware

Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC

Crypto security is a ticking time bomb. Updatable firmware might just be the match that lights the fuse.

Hardware wallets have become the holy grail of self-custody, the ultimate safeguard against hackers, scammers and even government overreach. There’s an inconvenient truth, however, that most people ignore: Firmware updates aren’t just security patches. 

They’re potential backdoors, waiting for someone — whether a hacker, a rogue developer or a shady third party — to kick them wide open.

Every time a hardware wallet manufacturer pushes an update, users are forced to make a choice. Hit that update button and hope for the best, or refuse to update and risk using outdated software with unknown vulnerabilities. Either way, it’s a gamble. 

In crypto, a bad gamble can mean waking up to an empty wallet.

Firmware updates aren’t always your friend

Updating firmware sounds like common sense. More security! Fewer bugs! Better user experience!

Here’s the thing: Every update is also an opportunity not just for the wallet provider but for anyone with the power, or motivation, to tamper with the process.

Hackers dream of firmware vulnerabilities. A rushed or poorly audited update can introduce tiny, almost imperceptible flaws — ones that sit in the background, waiting for the right moment to drain funds. And the best part? Users will never know what hit them.

Then there’s the more unsettling possibility: deliberate backdoors.

Recent: Hardware wallet Ledger helps competitor Trezor resolve security vulnerability

Tech companies have been forced to include government-mandated surveillance tools before. What makes anyone think hardware wallet makers are exempt? If a regulatory agency — or worse, a criminal organization — wants access to private keys, firmware updates are the perfect attack vector. One hidden function. One disguised line of code. 

That’s all it takes. Still think firmware updates are harmless? 

Firmware vulnerabilities are already being exploited

This isn’t some far-fetched, doomsday scenario. It has already happened.

Ledger, one of the biggest names in crypto security, had a major security crisis in 2018 when security researcher Saleem Rashid exposed a vulnerability that allowed attackers to replace Ledger Nano S firmware and hijack private keys. Nearly 1 million devices were at risk before a fix was rolled out. The scary part? There was no way for users to know if their devices had already been compromised.

In 2023, OneKey suffered a similar nightmare. White hat hackers demonstrated that its firmware could be cracked in mere seconds. No crypto was lost — this time. But what if real attackers had found the flaw first?

Then came the “Dark Skippy” exploit, taking firmware-based attacks to an entirely new level. With just two signed transactions, hackers could extract a user’s entire seed phrase — without setting off a single alarm. If firmware updates can be manipulated this easily, how can anyone be sure their assets are safe?

The hidden price of updatable firmware

To be fair, not all firmware updates are security disasters. Ledger uses a proprietary operating system and secure element chips for added protection now. Trezor takes an open-source approach, allowing the community to scrutinize its firmware. Coldcard and BitBox02 give users manual control over updates, reducing — but not eliminating — risk.

Here’s the real question: Can users ever be 100% sure that an update won’t introduce a fatal flaw?

Some wallets have decided to eliminate the risk altogether. Tangem ships with fixed, non-updatable firmware, meaning that its code can never be altered once the device leaves the factory. No updates. No patches. 

Of course, this approach has its trade-offs. If a vulnerability is discovered, there’s no way to fix it. But in security, predictability matters. 

Real crypto security means taking back control

The crypto market was worth $2.79 trillion as of March 2025. With that much money on the table, cybercriminals, rogue insiders and overreaching governments are always looking for weak points. Hardware wallet makers should be laser-focused on security.

Choosing a hardware wallet shouldn’t feel like gambling with private keys. It shouldn’t involve blind trust in a corporation’s ability to push updates responsibly. Users deserve more than vague reassurances. They deserve security models that put control where it belongs — with them.

Security isn’t about convenience. It’s about control. Any system that requires trusting unknown developers, opaque update processes or firmware that can be changed at will? That’s not control. That’s a liability.

The only real way to keep a hardware wallet safe? Remove the guesswork. Strip away the blind trust. Always research the developers’ backgrounds, check their track record for security incidents, and see how they’ve handled past vulnerabilities. Stick to verifiable facts — security should never be based on assumptions.

Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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