Dominic Cummings set to dish dirt on Boris Johnson in Halloween grilling at COVID inquiry

Published

2 years ago

October 30, 2023

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The COVID public inquiry is set to become explosive this week, with former Boris Johnson aide Dominic Cummings expected to dish the dirt on the former prime minister.

The maverick former No 10 adviser, once Mr Johnson‘s closest ally but now his sworn enemy, heads a list of top former Downing Street insiders giving evidence this week.

The ghost-like figure of Mr Cummings is due to give evidence on Halloween, prompting claims that he will face haunting questions on everything from “partygate” to lockdowns.

The No 10 insiders being quizzed include former private secretary Martin Reynolds, nicknamed “party Marty” after writing a notorious “bring your own booze” email to Downing Street staff.

Mr Reynolds is the first witness this week, followed in the afternoon by former director of communications Lee Cain, a former tabloid journalist who now calls himself an expert in crisis management.

Mr Cummings takes centre stage on Tuesday, in a session of evidence expected to be as sensational as his marathon public appearance before a committee of MPs two years ago.

Then he claimed Mr Johnson initially did not take COVID seriously and changed his mind 10 times a day and that former health secretary Matt Hancock should have been sacked for lying.

He also admitted that his own controversial trip to Barnard Castle, in County Durham, when he had COVID in 2020 – and his much-ridiculed claim that it was to test his eyesight – had been a “terrible mistake”.

‘This week really matters’

This week Mr Cummings is expected to launch further brutal attacks on Mr Johnson, as well as the former PM’s wife Carrie, Mr Hancock and cabinet secretary Simon Case.

Mr Case will be a notable absentee during the current round of evidence sessions, on how decisions were made in government, as he is currently away from work on sick leave.

This week’s hearings are also expected to see the publication of embarrassing WhatsApp messages sent between key Downing Street figures including Mr Cummings and Mr Johnson.

A number of damaging WhatsApps have already been released to the inquiry, including how Mr Johnson described long COVID as “b*******” and that his wife, Carrie, had been described as “the real person in charge” by Mr Case.

Last week it was also revealed that scientific advisers had referred to Rishi Sunak – who was then the chancellor – as “Dr Death” following the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

In addition, the former Conservative chancellor, George Osborne, has claimed “disgusting and misogynistic” WhatsApp messages sent by Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings will be released this week.

Sunak and Johnson expected to attend inquiry

Previewing this week’s evidence on the Politics at Jack & Sam’s podcast, Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates said: “What is going to happen this week really matters, not least because there are people who are at the heart of this inquiry who are still in government.

“I understand that Rishi Sunak is likely to appear before the COVID inquiry in December, possibly 11th December. Boris Johnson will appear around then too.

“But the big figure who is going to come out, possibly the worst of everybody from the evidence that we hear over the next few days, is someone who is currently off sick. That’s the cabinet secretary, Simon Case.

“We’re going to see more WhatsApp messages between him and those two key political advisers, Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings, which basically tell a story of how, at the height of the pandemic when there was chaos through 2020, you had these two key figures along with the cabinet secretary complaining about and to some degree working against the prime minister who employs all three of them.”

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Coates added: “What you’ll hear this week from figures like Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain, but particularly Dominic Cummings, is a lot of score-settling. A lot of attacks on Boris Johnson, attacks on Matt Hancock, attacks on bits of the civil service, the Cabinet Office, that weren’t working.

“But if you step back, what you really see is a completely dysfunctional No 10, with the prime minister on one side and his closest advisers seemingly working against him.”

Other witnesses giving evidence this week include:

• Imran Shafi, former private secretary to the prime minister;
• Helen MacNamara, former deputy cabinet secretary;
• Lord Stevens of Birmingham, who as Sir Simon Stevens was boss of NHS England;
• Sir Christopher Wormald, permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care;
• Professor Yvonne Doyle, former director for health protection at Public Health England.

Cummings has shunned use of lawyer

This week’s hearings are likely to cast the spotlight on a time which was critical for the country but expose what went on behind the door of Downing Street, with revelations that are sure to be capitalised upon by Labour.

After the examples of “laddish, football-style” banter between Mr Case and Mr Cain, it is understood there are likely to be further such examples this week, which could be highly damaging to Mr Case’s position.

Sky News also understands that in preparing for his testimony, Mr Cummings, the former chief adviser to the prime minister, has shunned the use of a lawyer, which could leave him exposed to challenges to his testimony from other witnesses.

Politics

SEC drops investigation into PayPal’s stablecoin

Published

4 hours ago

April 30, 2025

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SEC drops investigation into PayPal’s stablecoin

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.

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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BlackRock files to create digital shares tracking one of its money market funds

Published

5 hours ago

April 30, 2025

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BlackRock files to create digital shares tracking one of its money market funds

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.

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.

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US Treasury’s OFAC can’t restore Tornado Cash sanctions, judge rules

Published

6 hours ago

April 30, 2025

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US Treasury’s OFAC can’t restore Tornado Cash sanctions, judge rules

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.

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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