Israel-Hamas war: Met Police chief calls for ‘sharper’ laws in dealing with extremism
The Met Police chief has said there is scope for “sharper” laws in dealing with extremism as he faces criticism over the handling of pro-Palestinian protests in London.
Sir Mark Rowley told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that his officers are working “ruthlessly” to arrest anyone who “steps over the line” by committing a hate crime.
But he said that while the UK has robust laws in dealing with this, there is a “gap” when it comes to extremism.
Politics Hub: Stricter clampdown’ for protesters committing hate crimes ahead
He said: “I think there is scope to be much sharper in how we deal with extremism in this country. The law was never designed to deal with extremism.
“There’s a lot to do with terrorism and hate crime but we don’t have a body of law that deals with extremism and that is creating a gap.”
The UK government is reportedly planning on reconsidering its definition of extremism amid concerns the Met Police aren’t being tough enough against protesters they believe are inciting hatred.
There was anger after the Met said they had not identified any offences from a clip of a protest in which a member of the crowd could be heard chanting the word “jihad”.
Sir Mark Rowley said there have been “distasteful” scenes at recent pro-Palestine protests but some of those actions were not at the level to be prosecuted.
“We’ve got these big protests and some of what goes on there, people do find it upsetting and distasteful and sometimes people give an instinctive view that must not be legal.
“But there’s no point arresting hundreds of people if it’s not prosecutable, that’s just inflaming things.”
He added that police “robustly enforce up to the line of the law” and about 100 people had been arrested at demonstrations held since the Hamas attack on Israel three weeks ago.
“We’re going to be absolutely ruthless and we have been and you’ll see many more arrests over the next week or so.”
Some government ministers have been critical of the policing of pro-Palestinian rallies – which come against the backdrop of worsening conflict in the Middle East.
The number of people killed in Gaza since the conflict started has climbed to 8,005, according to the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry. The strip is being bombarded in response to the deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, in which at least 1,400 people were killed on Israeli soil.
Read more:
Police appeal to trace three women and man at London protests
Man arrested over making ‘threats to kill’ as thousands join pro-Palestine rally
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Michelle Donelan was speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips
Science Secretary Michelle Donelan told Trevor Phillips that the government “wanta to see a stricter clampdown” of the protests, saying some have “crossed the line”.
She gave the example of people brandishing images of Hamas paragliders, saying: “I personally think that it is inciting hatred and something the police should be looking at”.
“The home secretary has been working with police because we want to see a stricter clampdown,” she added.
However, she said she believed the existing law is “fit for purpose” when asked if the government might review the definition of extremism.
The Sunday Telegraph has reported officials in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities are examining a suggested new definition of hateful extremism in a move designed to counter hate, including antisemitism.
Pressed on the reports, Ms Donelan said: “Everything is always kept under constant review. In terms of a formal review, what we’ve said to date is that we believe the existing law is robust enough and the police should be applying that in these circumstances.
“Of course if we feel over the coming weeks that that is not enough, what I’m saying is that of course we would (take action.”
PayPal says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has abandoned its investigation into the payment giant’s US-dollar stablecoin.
PayPal said in an April 29 regulatory filing that the SEC concluded its investigation into PayPal USD (PYUSD) and wouldn’t be taking any action.
The company said it received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement over its stablecoin in November 2023.
“The subpoena requests the production of documents. We are cooperating with the SEC in connection with this request,” PayPal stated at the time.
In its latest filing, the firm said the SEC notified it in February that the agency “was closing this inquiry without enforcement action.”
PayPal has said its stablecoin is 100% redeemable for US dollars and “fully backed” by dollar deposits, including short-term treasuries and cash equivalents.
However, the stablecoin has struggled to gain momentum in a crowded market dominated by rivals Tether and Circle. PYUSD has a market capitalization of just $880 million, less than 1% of Tether’s (USDT) $148.5 billion.
PayPal’s stablecoin has seen better growth this year with a 75% increase in PYUSD circulating supply since the beginning of 2025, according to CoinGecko. It remains down 14% from its peak supply of just over $1 billion in August 2024.
Earnings on PYUSD, Coinbase partnership
That growth could be bolstered by a company announcement on April 23 introducing rewards for PYUSD in a new loyalty offering that will enable US users to earn 3.7% annually for holding the asset on the platform.
Meanwhile, on April 24, PayPal announced a partnership with Coinbase to increase the adoption of PYUSD.
“We are excited to drive new, exciting, and innovative use cases together with Coinbase and the entire cryptocurrency community, putting PYUSD at the center,” said Alex Chriss, PayPal President and CEO.
Related: PayPal to offer 3.7% yield on stablecoin balances: Report
The payments giant also reported robust first-quarter earnings and the completion of significant share repurchase activities.
The firm beat Wall Street estimates, earning $1.33 per share in the first quarter, topping analyst expectations of $1.16. Revenue rose 1% from a year before to $7.8 billion.
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Asset manager BlackRock has filed to create digital ledger technology shares from one of the firm’s money market funds, which will leverage blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for investors.
The DLT shares will track BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund (TTTXX), which may only be purchased from BlackRock Advisors and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the firm said in its April 29 Form N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The money market fund holds over $150 million worth of assets, invested almost entirely in US Treasury bills and cash.
BlackRock said that the shares “are expected to be purchased and held through BNY, which intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers.”
Unlike the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), DLT shares won’t be tokenized but will instead be used as a transparency tool to verify ownership.
BlackRock will continue to maintain traditional book-entry records as the official ownership ledger.
BlackRock didn’t propose a ticker or set a management fee for the DLT shares in its filing.
A minimum initial investment of $3 million worth of DLT is required for institutions seeking to purchase the digital shares.
BlackRock follows Fidelity’s March 21 filing to list an Ethereum-based OnChain share class, which seeks to track the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX) — an $80 million fund consisting almost entirely of US Treasury bills.
While the OnChain share class filing is pending regulatory approval, Fidelity expects it to take effect on May 30.
Wall Street heavyweights continue to explore blockchain use cases
Asset managers have increasingly turned to blockchain to tokenize Treasury bills, bonds and private credit over the past few years.
Related: BlackRock Bitcoin ETF buys $970M in BTC as inflows surge, boost market
The treasury tokenization market is currently valued at $6.16 billion, led by BlackRock’s BUIDL at $2.55 billion, while the Franklin Templeton-issued Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (BENJI) secures over $700 million worth of real-world assets, according to rwa.xyz.
Ethereum remains the chain of choice for tokenizing treasury assets, and currently houses over $4.55 billion worth, while the Stellar network and Solana round out the top three at $474.9 million and $274.5 million, respectively.
The potential of RWA tokenization has also been championed by BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, who believes the technology could revolutionize investing.
Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control can’t restore or reimpose sanctions against the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, a US federal court has ruled.
Austin federal court judge Robert Pitman said in an April 28 judgment that OFAC’s sanctions on Tornado Cash were unlawful and that the agency was “permanently enjoined from enforcing” sanctions.
Tornado Cash users led by Joseph Van Loon had sued the Treasury, arguing that OFAC’s addition of the platform’s smart contract addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list was “not in accordance with law.”
OFAC had sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, accusing the protocol of helping launder crypto stolen by the North Korean hacking collective, the Lazarus Group.
The agency dropped the platform from the sanctions list on March 21 and argued that the matter was “moot” after a court ruled in favor of Tornado Cash in January.
This latest amended ruling prevents OFAC from re-sanctioning Tornado Cash or putting it back on the blacklist.
Initially, the court denied a motion for partial summary judgment and granted in favour of the Treasury. However, the Fifth Circuit reversed the decision and instructed the lower court to grant partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs, which led to the sanctions being revoked.
In March, the Treasury argued there was no need for a final court judgment in the lawsuit.
Crypto body petitions White House over Tornado Cash
On April 28, the DeFi Education Fund petitioned White House crypto czar David Sacks to have prosecutors drop charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm.
Related: Samourai Wallet, feds ask for time to mull dropping crypto mixer case
Storm was charged in August 2023 with helping launder over $1 billion in crypto through the protocol, and his trial is still set for July.
The group said that the Department of Justice was attempting to hold software developers criminally liable for how others use their code, which they argued was “not only absurd in principle, but it sets a precedent that potentially chills all crypto development in the United States.”
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