Starmer focuses on Online Harms Bill and violent extremism in first PMQs since Sir David Amess’ killing
Boris Johnson has committed to bringing the Online Harms Bill back to the Commons “before Christmas” in the first PMQs following the killing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess.
Sir Keir Starmer called on Boris Johnson to bring forward the second reading of the Online Harms Bill by the end of the calendar year in the first PMQs since Sir David’s death last Friday.
In the first meeting of the two party leaders in three weeks, Sir Keir warned: “It is three years since the government promised an Online Safety Bill but it is not yet before the House – meanwhile the damage caused by harmful content online is worse than ever.”
Boris Johnson said the Online Harms Bill will come before Parliament before Christmas
The Labour leader said if the legislation is put in front of MPs before the end of 2021, his party will support it.
The PM thanked Sir Keir for his support and confirmed the Bill will return and “complete its stages” before the end of December.
It had been expected that the Bill – which particularly focuses on how to protect young people online, but also contains plans on how to address terrorism and disinformation – would not return to the Commons until the New Year.
“The safety of MPs, indeed of all public servants, everybody who engages with the public is of vital importance,” Mr Johnson said.
“The Online Safety Bill is of huge importance, it is one of the most important tools in our armoury.”
The PM also insisted new internet safety laws will impose “criminal sanctions with tough sentences” on those responsible for allowing “foul content” on their platforms.
The exchange came less than a week after Tory MP Sir David was stabbed to death in his constituency.
Sir David Amess was killed in his constituency in Essex on Friday
Sir David, who represented Southend West in Essex, was holding a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea when he was stabbed multiple times.
Ali Harbi Ali, who is 25-years-old, has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.
The PM told MPs his government are “ensuring that we crack down on companies that promote illegal and dangerous content”, adding: “We’ll be toughening up those provisions.”
Sir Keir called for “tough and effective sanctions” for those responsible for harmful online posts.
“It is frankly beyond belief that as the Mirror reported yesterday, 40 hours of hateful content from Anjem Choudary could be easily accessed online,” the Labour leader said.
Sir Keir urged the PM to bring an end to this “by making it clear that directors of companies are criminally liable for failing to tackle this type of material on their sites”.
He added that there is “a clear need for action”.
Mr Johnson replied that the government is working “with all parties” to tackle violent extremism and said UK has “one of the strongest counter terrorism and counter extremism systems in the world”.
Sir Keir Starmer called on MPs to work together to combat violent extremism
The PM said he is “willing to look at anything to strengthen the legislation”, adding: “We will have criminal sanctions with tough sentences for those who are responsible for allowing this foul content to permeate the internet.”
The debate follows almost a week of MPs raising safety concerns in the wake of Sir David’s death.
A wider discussion has developed over the way politicians are targeted online.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Home Secretary Priti Patel said MPs could be given police protection while they carry out constituency surgeries.
Ms Patel said “immediate” security changes are being offered to MPs after the killing and they are being asked to share their whereabouts with police, but she said she did not think it should change the nature of the relationship between MPs and constituencies.
There was a calm mood in the Commons for the majority of the first PMQs since Sir David Amess’ killing
And Ms Patel did not rule out banning anonymity on social media in a bid to tackle “relentless” online abuse, declaring: “We can’t carry on like this.”
At the beginning of the session, Sir Keir called on all members of the House to work “together” to tackle issues relating to violent extremism.
The calm tone remained for the majority of PMQs, with the PM saying he is “delighted to join forces” on the matter.
Despite the rising COVID cases, there was no mention of the pandemic in the 30-minute questioning.
The new trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump may place added pressure on the Bitcoin mining ecosystem both domestically and globally, according to one industry executive.
While the US is home to Bitcoin (BTC) mining manufacturing firms such as Auradine, it’s still “not possible to make the whole supply chain, including materials, US-based,” Kristian Csepcsar, chief marketing officer at BTC mining tech provider Braiins, told Cointelegraph.
On April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs, imposing a 10% tariff on all countries that export to the US and introducing “reciprocal” levies targeting America’s key trading partners.
Community members have debated the potential effects of the tariffs on Bitcoin, with some saying their impact has been overstated, while others see them as a significant threat.
Tariffs compound existing mining challenges
Csepcsar said the mining industry is already experiencing tough times, pointing to key indicators like the BTC hashprice.
Hashprice — a measure of a miner’s daily revenue per unit of hash power spent to mine BTC blocks — has been on the decline since 2022 and dropped to all-time lows of $50 for the first time in 2024.
According to data from Bitbo, the BTC hashprice was still hovering around all-time low levels of $53 on March 30.
Bitcoin hashprice since late 2013. Source: Bitbo
“Hashprice is the key metric miners follow to understand their bottom line. It is how many dollars one terahash makes a day. A key profitability metric, and it is at all-time lows, ever,” Csepcsar said.
He added that mining equipment tariffs were already increasing under the Biden administration in 2024, and cited comments from Summer Meng, general manager at Chinese crypto mining supplier Bitmars.
Source: Summer Meng
“But they keep getting stricter under Trump,” Csepcsar added, referring to companies such as the China-based Bitmain — the world’s largest ASIC manufacturer — which is subject to the new tariffs.
Trump’s latest measures include a 34% additional tariff on top of an existing 20% levy for Chinese mining imports. In response, China reportedly imposed its own retaliatory tariffs on April 4.
BTC mining firms to “lose in the short term”
Csepcsar also noted that cutting-edge chips for crypto mining are currently massively produced in countries like Taiwan and South Korea, which were hit by new 32% and 25% tariffs, respectively.
“It will take a decade for the US to catch up with cutting-edge chip manufacturing. So again, companies, including American ones, lose in the short term,” he said.
Source: jmhorp
Csepcsar also observed that some countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States region, including Russia and Kazakhstan, have been beefing up mining efforts and could potentially overtake the US in hashrate dominance.
Related: Bitcoin mining using coal energy down 43% since 2011 — Report
“If we continue to see trade war, these regions with low tariffs and more favorable mining conditions can see a major boom,” Csepcsar warned.
As the newly announced tariffs potentially hurt Bitcoin mining both globally and in the US, it may become more difficult for Trump to keep his promise of making the US the global mining leader.
Trump’s stance on crypto has shifted multiple times over the years. As his administration embraces a more pro-crypto agenda, it remains to be seen how the latest economic policies will impact his long-term strategy for digital assets.
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Cryptocurrency exchange OKX is under renewed regulatory scrutiny in Europe after Maltese authorities issued a major fine for violations of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.
Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) fined Okcoin Europe — OKX’s Europe-based subsidiary — 1.1 million euros ($1.2 million) after detecting multiple AML failures on the platform in the past, the authority announced on April 3.
While admitting that OKX has significantly improved its AML policies in the past 18 months, the authority “could not ignore” its past compliance failures from 2023, “some of which were deemed to be serious and systematic,” the FIAU notice said.
OKX was among the first crypto exchanges to receive a license under Europe’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation via its Malta hub in January 2025.
The news of the $1.2 million penalty in Malta came after Bloomberg in March reported that European Union regulators were probing OKX for laundering $100 million in funds from the Bybit hack.
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou previously claimed that OKX’s Web3 proxy allowed hackers to launder about $100 million, or 40,233 Ether (ETH), from the $1.5 billion hack that occurred in February.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
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Authorities in the US state of Massachusetts continue targeting unlawful cryptocurrency market practices, with a local court fining crypto financial services firm CLS Global.
A federal court in Boston on April 2 sentenced CLS Global on criminal charges related to fraudulent manipulation of crypto trading volume, according to an announcement from the Massachusetts US Attorney’s Office.
In addition to a $428,059 fine, the court prohibited CLS Global from offering services in the US for a probation period of three years.
CLS Global, a crypto market maker registered in the United Arab Emirates, in January pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit market manipulation and one count of wire fraud.
CLS agreed to manipulate the FBI’s “trap token” NexFundAI
The charges against CLS Global followed an undercover law enforcement operation involving NexFundAI, a token created by the FBI as part of a sting operation in May 2024.
CLS Global was among at least three firms that took the FBI’s bait and agreed to provide “market maker services” for NexFundAI, including a fraudulent scheme to attract investors to purchase the token.
In October 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against CLS and its employee, Andrey Zhorzhes. The US securities regulator also filed complaints against two other NexFundAI manipulators, Hong Kong-linked ZM Quant Investment and Russia-linked Gotbit Consulting.
CLS Global’s profile
According to CLS Global CEO Filipp Veselov, the company was founded in 2017 to fill in a “huge gap in the market for high-quality market-making solutions and trading consulting.”
Prior to CLS, Veselov worked at the Russian cryptocurrency exchange platform Latoken, which is advertised as a “global digital asset exchange” and has about 370,000 followers on X.
The CLS team also includes chief revenue officer Pavel Singaevskii, who previously served as sales manager at Stex, a crypto platform that reportedly ceased operations without warning in 2023.
Source: CLS Global
According to CLS Global’s X page, the platform continues operating and has more than 110,000 followers at the time of publication.
How much wash trading is in crypto?
Wash trading is an illegal practice involving artificially inflating trading volume by repeatedly buying and selling the same asset, generating a misleading perception of demand.
According to a January 2025 report by the US blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the crypto market has at least $2.6 billion in estimated wash traded volumes, or just about 2% of total daily crypto trading volumes, as reported by CoinGecko.
Estimated wash trade volume in crypto. Source: Chainalysis
Related: Russian Gotbit founder strikes $23M plea deal with US prosecutors
Some studies indicate that wash trading makes up a bigger share of the crypto market.
In 2022, the US National Bureau of Economic Research reported that illegal wash trading may account for as much as 70% of average trading volumes on unregulated exchanges.
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