Taxpayers will be exposed to pandemic cost risks for decades, report says

Published

4 years ago

July 25, 2021

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Taxpayers will spend decades exposed to financial risks from the government’s coronavirus spending, according to a committee of MPs.

Parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC) has produced two reports related to the crisis, the first of which warns that Britain will be exposed to “significant financial risks for decades to come”.

The cost of government measures has already reached £372bn, they said.

PAC chair Dame Meg Hillier said: “With eye-watering sums of money spent on COVID measures so far the government needs to be clear, now, how this will be managed going forward, and over what period of time.

“The ongoing risk to the taxpayer will run for 20 years on things like arts and culture recovery loans, let alone the other new risks that departments across government must quickly learn to manage.”

Among the concerns is that, of the estimate £92bn in loans guaranteed by the government as of May, £26bn is expected to be lost as a result of bad loans to businesses.

But the exact scale of loss will going to be known for some time, the report said.

It added: “To make decisions and disburse funding more quickly, government relaxed the usual rules over the management of public money and took on significant financial risks, which government may have to manage for many years and which will have implications for future spending decisions.”

Another concern was the cost of personal protective equipment, where the committee said there had been “unacceptably high” levels of wasteful spending.

Some 2.1 billion items purchased were found to be unusable, at a cost of more than £2bn to the taxpayer.

The stockpile of remaining PPE was also “not fit for purpose”, the committee said, adding that this was despite a cost of more than £10bn.

As of May, out of the 32 billion items of PPE ordered, some 11 billion had been distributed.

Some 12.6 billion are being held as stock, with storage costing around £6.7m per week.

Some 8.4 billion items are still on order and have not yet arrived.

The second report concentrated on the prospect of an inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus crisis, an inquiry that has been promised for next year.

However, the committee said the government should not wait for the review before “learning important lessons”, calling for a recovery plan to be presented in the autumn spending review.

Dame Meg said: “If coronavirus is with us for a long time, the financial hangover could leave future generations with a big headache.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman responded: “There are robust processes in place to ensure that government spending always provides value for money for the taxpayer.

“We have worked tirelessly to source life-saving PPE to protect health and care staff, and we have delivered over 12.7 billion items to the frontline at record speed.”

Politics

Labour suspends MP Dan Norris after arrest

Published

3 hours ago

April 5, 2025

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Labour suspends MP Dan Norris after arrest

The Labour Party has suspended its MP Dan Norris after “being informed of his arrest”.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Dan Norris MP was immediately suspended by the Labour Party upon being informed of his arrest.

“We cannot comment further while the police investigation is ongoing.”

Mr Norris defeated Jacob Rees-Mogg to win the new seat of North East Somerset and Hanham in last year’s general election.

He has also lost the party whip in the House of Commons.

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Politics

Satoshi Nakamoto turns 50 as Bitcoin becomes US reserve asset

Published

9 hours ago

April 5, 2025

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Satoshi Nakamoto turns 50 as Bitcoin becomes US reserve asset

Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.

The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.

While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.

According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.

Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.

The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.

Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.

Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”

“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.

“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:

“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”

However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.

Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?

In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.

If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.

Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.

Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’

Politics

Wall Street’s one-day loss tops the entire crypto market cap

Published

14 hours ago

April 5, 2025

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Wall Street’s one-day loss tops the entire crypto market cap

The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.

On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.

Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”

Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.

The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.

“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”

Nasdaq, United States, Stocks — *Source:* *Anthony Scaramucci*

On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.

Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.

Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.

Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.

Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.

Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”

Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set