Mark Drakeford ‘regularly’ used WhatsApp to ‘seek clarification of rules’, COVID inquiry told
Mark Drakeford used WhatsApp to “seek clarification of the rules” during the pandemic, the COVID inquiry has been told.
A legal representative told the inquiry that WhatsApp disclosures showed Wales‘s outgoing first minister was “regularly using [the messaging platform] to discuss policy announcements and even to seek clarification on the rules”.
Nia Gowman, who represents Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, said WhatsApp messages disclosed to the inquiry showed then health minister, Vaughan Gething, and first minister’s most senior special adviser “turning on disappearing messages”.
Read more:
The families in Wales who want answers on COVID decisions
“The limited messages that have been disclosed clearly show WhatsApp and text messages used to discuss government business where they shouldn’t have been,” Ms Gowman said.
“They show Welsh government senior special advisers suspiciously and systematically deleting communications.
“They show special advisers reminding themselves, and others, that they had agreed ‘to clear out WhatsApp chats once a week’.”
The UK COVID inquiry held its first hearing in Wales on Tuesday, looking at the decisions taken by the Welsh government during the pandemic.
The inquiry will sit at the Mercure Hotel in Cardiff until 14 March.
It was confirmed at the hearing that both Mr Drakeford and Mr Gething will be called to give evidence, as well as senior government officials.
Some people who lost family members during the pandemic have told Sky News they want to see a separate Wales-specific COVID inquiry, as is the case in Scotland.
Responding to those calls, chair of the inquiry Baroness Heather Hallett said that “everyone knows [it] is not a decision for me”.
“I can promise, however, that the UK inquiry will do its utmost to investigate and analyse fully and fairly the most significant issues that concern the people of Wales,” she said.
The Welsh government has previously argued that decisions taken in Wales should be considered within a UK context.
Baroness Hallett said it was “probably appropriate that we begin these hearings in Wales in a week that includes St David’s Day but also includes the National Day of Reflection on Sunday, when we remember those who lost their lives during the pandemic”.
As the hearing got under way on Tuesday, a 20-minute impact film, with contributors speaking in both English and Welsh, was played.
Baroness Hallett described it as “extremely moving” and “it reminds us all why we are here”.
Baroness Heather Hallett
‘Adding confusion’
The inquiry was told that in March 2020, Welsh Labour decided not to hold its conference in Llandudno in-person, due to the emerging threat of the virus.
Lead counsel to the inquiry, Tom Poole KC, said Labour Senedd member, Lee Waters, said in a WhatsApp message: “I do think that it’s an odd signal to send that we’re cancelling conference, but allowing 70,000 to gather in Cardiff on Saturday”.
The message was in reference to the Six Nations match between Wales and Scotland due to be held in Principality Stadium on 14 March 2020.
It was called off by the Welsh Rugby Union on 13 March, but not before 20,000 Scottish rugby fans had travelled to the Welsh capital, the inquiry heard.
On 24 April, then Wales secretary, Simon Hart, wrote to the Welsh government saying its framework for recovery – which outlined how restrictions would be eased – “did not mention the UK government once”.
Mr Hart stated that “unless the evidence being relied on by the Welsh government to diverge from a UK-wide plan is explained, then the Welsh government will be guilty of adding confusion to an already challenging period of recovery”.
‘Treasury for England’
The successor to the coronavirus job retention scheme was due to start on 1 November 2020.
The Welsh government asked the chancellor for the plan to start earlier in Wales after it announced a firebreak lockdown in the country.
Mr Drakeford, in written evidence to the inquiry, described the rejection of that request as “one of the most misguided decisions of the whole pandemic”.
Mr Drakeford said the impact of that decision was that the Treasury was “in effect acting as a Treasury for England, not a Treasury for the UK”.
Mr Poole told the inquiry that this is denied by the UK government, including by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was chancellor at the time.
The inquiry continues.
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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