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Shadow minister Imran Hussain has quit Labour’s frontbench in protest at Sir Keir Starmer’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr Hussain’s decision will be a blow for the Labour leader, who has been attempting to hold his party together in an increasingly fractious debate over whether the leadership should back a ceasefire in Gaza.

In his resignation letter to Mr Starmer, Mr Hussain said: “It has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted.

“I believe the party needs to go further and call for a ceasefire.”

The MP for Bradford East was explicit in condemning Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, but said the situation in Gaza was horrific.

“As I write, more than 1,400 Israeli and over 10,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in the last month,” he wrote.

“This shocking number of fatalities is set to grow as indiscriminate attacks and the siege of Gaza continues.”

Mr Hussain had been on Labour’s front bench for eight years, most recently as shadow minister for the new deal for working people.

He said he wanted to be a “strong advocate for the humanitarian ceasefire”.

“It is clear that I cannot sufficiently, in all good conscience, do this from the frontbench given its current position,” he wrote.

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Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s south

Mr Hussain said he was “deeply troubled” by Sir Keir’s comments on the war in an LBC interview last month and said the party must be vocal in calling for a ceasefire.

Sir Keir has resisted calls for a full ceasefire on the grounds it would “embolden” Hamas and allow it to carry out similar attacks to 7 October, when 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.

Instead, he has taken the same stance as the US and backed calls for a humanitarian pause to allow aid into Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,000 people have now been killed.

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‘Is ceasefire issue tearing Labour apart?’

Despite attempting to hold off further rebellions with a series of interventions last week, the leader of Burnley Council and 10 other councillors resigned from Labour over Sir Keir’s decision not to push for a ceasefire.

Afrasiab Anwar, who has been in the party for 10 years, said it had been a “really difficult decision” to leave Labour and was among those calling for Sir Keir to step down on Thursday.

It takes the total number of councillors who have resigned over the row to 50, while 18 shadow ministers have defied the official Labour position by calling for a ceasefire, as well as London mayor Sadiq Khan, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

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Sir Keir has attempted to set out his reasoning for not backing a ceasefire as the calls from within his party grow louder.

In a speech last week, in which he sought to calm tensions over his position on the conflict, Sir Keir said he “understands” calls for a ceasefire but he did not believe it was the “correct position” to take.

He said a ceasefire “always freezes any conflict in the state where it currently lies” and would “embolden” Hamas and that a humanitarian pause was the “only credible approach” to the conflict in Gaza.

“Our current calls for pauses in the fighting, for clear and specific humanitarian purposes and which must start immediately, is right in practice as well as principle,” he argued.

“In fact it is at this moment, the only credible approach that has any chance of achieving what we all want to see in Gaza, the urgent alleviation of Palestinian suffering.

“And it’s why it is also a position shared by our major allies in the US and the EU.”

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Stablecoins: Depegging, fraudsters and decentralization

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Stablecoins: Depegging, fraudsters and decentralization

Stablecoins: Depegging, fraudsters and decentralization

Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD

Lately, stablecoins are everywhere — this time around, headed by “traditional” financial institutions. Bank of America and Standard Chartered are considering launching their own stablecoin, joining JPMorgan, which launched its stablecoin, JPM Coin — rebranded as Kinexys Digital Payments — to facilitate transactions with their institutional clients on their blockchain platform, Kinexys (formerly Onyx). 

Mastercard plans to bring stablecoins to the mainstream, joining Bleap Finance, a crypto startup. The aim is to enable stablecoins to be spent directly onchain — without conversions or intermediaries — seamlessly integrating blockchain assets with Mastercard’s global payment rails. 

In early April 2025, Visa joined the Global Dollar Network (USDG) stablecoin consortium. The company will become the first traditional finance player to join the consortium. In late March 2025, NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced that it is investigating applications for using USDC (USDC) stablecoin and US Yield Coin within its derivatives exchanges, clearinghouses, data services and other markets.

Why the renewed interest in stablecoins?

Regulatory clarity and acceptance

Recent moves by regulatory bodies in the United States and Europe have created more straightforward guidelines for cryptocurrency use. In the US, Congress is considering legislation to establish formal standards for stablecoins, bolstering confidence among banks and fintech companies.

The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation requires that stablecoin issuers operating within the EU adhere to specific financial standards, including special reserve requirements and risk mitigation. In the UK, financial authorities plan to conduct consultations to draft rules governing stablecoin use, further facilitating their acceptance and adoption.

The Trump administration executive order 14067, “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” supports and “promotes the development and growth of lawful and legitimate dollar-backed stablecoins worldwide” while “prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States.”

This executive order, followed by Trump’s World Liberty Financial company launching a stablecoin called USD1, signals that this is the era of stablecoins, particularly those pegged to the USD.

Do we need more stablecoins?

The stablecoin landscape

There are over 200 stablecoins, most pegged to the US dollar. Two established stablecoins dominate the stablecoin landscape. Tether’s USDt (USDT), the oldest stablecoin, launched in 2014 and USDC, launched in 2018, capturing 65% and 28% of stablecoins market cap, respectively — both are centralized fiat collateralized. 

Recent: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

In third place, a relatively new one, USDe, launched in February 2024, holds about 2% of the stablecoin market cap and has an unconventional mechanism based on derivatives in the crypto market. Although it runs on a DeFi protocol on Ethereum, it incorporates centralized features since centralized exchanges hold the derivatives positions.

There are three primary mechanisms of stablecoins:

  • Centralized, fiat-collateralized: A centralized company maintains reserves of the assets in a bank or trust (e.g., for currency) or a vault (e.g., for gold) and issues tokens (i.e., stablecoins) that represent a claim on the underlying asset.

  • Decentralized, cryptocurrency-collateralized: A stablecoin is backed by other decentralized crypto assets. One example can be found in the MakerDAO stablecoin Dai (DAI), which is pegged to the US dollar and encapsulates the features of decentralization. While a central organization controls centralized stablecoins, no one entity controls the issuance of DAI.

  • Decentralized, uncollateralized: This mechanism ensures the stability of the coin’s value by controlling its supply through an algorithm executed by a smart contract. In some ways, this is no different from central banks, which also don’t rely on reserve assets to keep the value of their currency stable. The difference is that central banks, like the Federal Reserve, set a monetary policy publicly based on well-understood parameters, and its status as the issuer of legal tender provides the credibility of that policy.

Depegging, risk and fraudsters

Stablecoins are supposed to be stable. They were created to overcome the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies. To maintain their stability, stablecoins should (1) be pegged to a stable asset and (2) follow a mechanism that sustains the peg.

If stablecoins are pegged to gold or electricity, they will reflect the volatility of these assets and thus may not be the best choice if you are seeking a no-risk (or close to no-risk) asset.

USDe maintains a peg to the USD through delta hedging. It uses short and long positions in futures, which generates a 27% yield annually — significantly higher than the 12% annual yield of other stablecoins pegged to the USD. Derivative positions are considered risky — the higher the risk, the higher the return. Therefore, it encapsulates an inherited risk due to its reliance on derivatives, which runs counter to the purpose of stablecoins. 

Stablecoins have been around for more than a decade. During this time, there were no major depegging fiascos other than the case of Terra. The collapse of Terra was not the result of a reserve problem or mechanism but rather the act of fraudsters and manipulators.

TerraUSD (UST) had a built-in arbitrage mechanism between UST and the Terra blockchain native coin, LUNA. To create UST, you needed to burn LUNA.

To entice traders to burn LUNA and create UST, the creators of the Terra blockchain offered a 19.5% yield on staking, which is crypto terminology for earning 19.5% interest on a deposit, through what they called the Anchor protocol.

Such a high interest rate is simply not sustainable. Someone has to borrow at such a rate or above for the lender to receive 19.5% interest. This is how banks make their profit — they charge high interest on borrowing (such as mortgages or loans) and provide low interest on savings (such as a traditional savings account or a certificate of deposit account). Analysis of the Anchor protocol in January 2022 showed it was at a loss.

One of the allegations in the lawsuits against Terraform Labs’ founders is that the Anchor protocol was a Ponzi scheme.

In March 2025, Galaxy Digital reached a $200-million settlement with the New York Attorney General over claims the crypto investing company promoted the LUNA digital asset without disclosing its interest in the token.

In January 2025, Do Kwon, founder of Terra, was found liable for securities fraud and is facing multiple charges in the US, including fraud, wire fraud and commodities fraud. If regulators are interested in preventing future cases like Terra, they should focus on how to deter fraudsters and manipulators from issuing or engaging with stablecoins.

Decentralization: Rekindling the premise of Bitcoin

Most stablecoins are centralized assets collateralized. They are controlled by a company that could conduct unauthorized use of customers’ funds or falsely claim that reserves fully back a stablecoin.

To prevent companies’ misconduct, regulators should closely monitor these companies and set rules similar to securities laws. 

Centralized stablecoins run counter to the notion of blockchain and the premise of Bitcoin. When Bitcoin was launched, it was supposed to be a payment platform free of intermediaries, not controlled by any company, bank or government — a decentralized mechanism — run by the people for the people.

If a stablecoin is centralized, it should follow the regulations of any other centralized asset.

Maybe it’s time to rekindle the premise of Bitcoin but in a more “stable” fashion. Developing an algorithmic, decentralized stablecoin that is free of any control of a company, bank or government and reviving the core notion of blockchain.

Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD.

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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Starmer suffers defeat in first by-election as PM as Reform take Runcorn and Helsby

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Starmer suffers defeat in first by-election as PM as Reform take Runcorn and Helsby

Reform UK have won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.

The narrow victory for new MP Sarah Pochin saw Nigel Farage’s party taking a constituency which Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 at the general election less than 12 months ago.

Politics Live: Could Reform finally get a toehold of power?

The by-election in the Cheshire seat was called after the previous MP Mike Amesbury resigned following his conviction for punching a constituent.

Ms Pochin won with 12,645 votes, compared to the 12,639 votes secured by Labour candidate Karen Shore, making it the closest by-election result since records began in 1945.

Speaking after the result was declared, Mr Farage told Sky News’ chief political correspondent Jon Craig that “no one knows” what Sir Keir Starmer stands for.

He also blamed Labour’s loss on higher taxes and migration, saying a “sense of fairness bordering on resentment” was noticeable on the doorstep.

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He added that the result shows that “if you vote Conservative, you get Labour”, insisting his party is now the opposition to the government.

The vote in Runcorn is Sir Keir Starmer’s first by-election test as prime minister.

A Labour spokesperson said by-elections are “always difficult for the party in government and the events which led to this one being called made it even harder”.

They said: “While Labour has suffered an extremely narrow defeat, the shock is that the Conservative vote has collapsed.

Nigel Farage with Reform's Runcorn candidate Sarah Pochin
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Nigel Farage with Reform’s Runcorn candidate Sarah Pochin

“Moderate voters are clearly appalled by the talk of a Tory-Reform pact.”

Conservative candidate Sean Houlston came in third with 2,341 votes.

The Tories called the result “a damning verdict on Keir Starmer’s leadership which has led to Labour losing a safe seat”.

A spokesperson said: “Just 10 months ago Labour won an enormous majority, including in this seat with 52% of the vote, but their policies have been a punch in the face for the people of Runcorn.

“Snatching Winter Fuel Payments from vulnerable pensioners, pushing farmers to the brink with their vindictive Family Farms Tax and hammering families with a £3500 jobs tax, families are being punished for their disastrous decisions in government. Now we know why Keir Starmer never bothered to visit the area.”

As well as the Runcorn by-election, voters on Thursday took part in contests to elect more than 1,600 councillors across 23 local authorities, along with four regional mayors and two local mayors.

In the first result of the night, Labour held on to the North Tyneside mayoralty by just 444 votes.

It then saw off Reform in the West of England and Doncaster to retain both mayoralties.

However Reform won the mayoralty in Greater Lincolnshire by a majority of 39,584.

Two other mayoralties up grabs are Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and Hull and East Yorkshire.

Lead politics presenter Sophy Ridge, political editor Beth Rigby, and data and economics editor Ed Conway will be live on Friday morning to report and explain the results.

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US Treasury wants to cut off Huione over ties to crypto crime

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US Treasury wants to cut off Huione over ties to crypto crime

US Treasury wants to cut off Huione over ties to crypto crime

The US Treasury Department wants to block the Cambodia-based Huione Group from accessing the US banking system, accusing it of helping North Korea’s state-backed Lazarus Group to launder its crypto.

The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed on May 1 to prohibit US financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent or payable-through accounts for or on behalf of the Huione Group.

Huione Group has established itself as the “marketplace of choice for malicious cyber actors” like the Lazarus Group, who have “stolen billions of dollars from everyday Americans,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a May 1 statement.

“Today’s proposed action will sever Huione Group’s access to correspondent banking, degrading these groups’ ability to launder their ill-gotten gains.”

Huione Group has set up a network of businesses, which includes payment service platform Huione Pay PLC, the crypto exchange Huione Crypto, and Haowang Guarantee, an online marketplace offering illicit goods and services.

Although the conglomerate doesn’t have correspondent accounts with US financial institutions, it has accounts with foreign firms with US correspondent accounts, FinCEN noted in its rulemaking submission.

The proposed rule is subject to a 30-day public comment period before it can take effect.

US Treasury wants to cut off Huione over ties to crypto crime
Source: Chainalysis

Huione expanded into sophisticated cybercrime network

FinCEN claimed that Huione Group has laundered at least $4 billion worth of illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2025, including more than $36 million from crypto pig butchering scams.

At least $37 million worth of the crypto laundered has been linked to North Korea’s “cyber heists,” the Treasury said.

Haowang Guarantee has made Huione Group a “one stop shop” for criminals to launder crypto obtained through illicit activities, and ultimately convert it to fiat currency, the Treasury said.

Related: North Korean crypto attacks rising in sophistication, actors — Paradigm

The conglomerate has also created a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, the US Dollar Huione (USDH), which FinCEN said cannot be frozen and helps to carry out money laundering activities.

The National Bank of Cambodia has stated that payment firms aren’t allowed to deal or trade digital assets in the country and had revoked the company’s local banking license in March.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

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