Humza Yousaf mocked over claim world leaders ‘lining up’ for advice from Scottish government
Scotland’s first minister has been mocked over a “bold claim” world leaders have been “lining up” to seek advice from the Scottish government.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross ridiculed a statement made by transport, net zero and just transition secretary Mairi McAllan in the chamber last week.
She said world leaders have been approaching the SNP administration for “advice on how we have managed to lead the way so successfully on a number of fronts”.
With their names remaining a mystery, Mr Ross teased Humza Yousaf during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday.
Highlighting a number of scandals surrounding the SNP, he said: “Has Justin Trudeau been on the phone looking for a camper van?
“Maybe it’s Emmanuel Macron calling the health secretary to hear how to stream the Celtic match from Morocco?
“Maybe, maybe it’s Joe Biden asking for advice how to deal with a disastrous predecessor at the heart of a criminal investigation?
“I don’t know, it could have been any of those things.”
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross during FMQs earlier this year
Mr Ross said the world leaders would not have been asking the SNP “how to build ferries or how to run an education system“.
He added: “And they definitely won’t have been asking Humza Yousaf for economic advice because he’s making hard-working Scots pick up the bill for his mistakes.”
Mr Ross had been questioning the first minister over the Scottish budget announced earlier this week.
Read more:
Scottish budget: All the major announcements
A new tax threshold has been created for high earners, with those earning more than £75,000 to pay a rate of 45%.
Scotland already had the highest tax band in the UK at 47% for people earning more than £125,000.
This will also rise by 1% next year to 48%.
Those earning £100,000 or more in Scotland will pay £3,346 more than others in the UK, and anyone who makes in excess of £28,850 will also pay higher taxes than workers elsewhere.
Mr Ross highlighted concerns raised by Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of the British Medical Association Scotland, that the tax hikes could inadvertently lead to key workers leaving the NHS.
Mr Yousaf refuted the claim there will be a “mass exodus” from Scotland as the statistics “simply don’t bear that out”.
Defending the budget, Mr Yousaf said the majority of those in Scotland will pay less tax compared to those in the rest of the UK.
Scotland’s tax system will also create more money for NHS staff, child care, education, police officers, and the fire service, he added.
Mr Yousaf said under the Tories, Scots got a Brexit they “didn’t vote for” and a “Westminster cost of living crisis that’s harming millions of households across Scotland”.
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.
Source: Web.archive.org
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.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
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.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
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.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
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.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: 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’
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.”
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.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
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.
Source: Jeff Dorman
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.
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