Sunak and Austrian leader agree ‘Rwanda style model’ needed to tackle illegal migration in Europe
Rishi Sunak said he and Austria’s leader are “deepening co-operation” on illegal migration as they agreed schemes like the Rwanda plan are needed to tackle the issue in Europe.
The prime minister met Chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna on Tuesday, following an announcement that the UK government will give an extra £25m to the National Crime Agency to help tackle people smuggling gangs.
However, the main thrust of the trip was to promote the use of third country deportation schemes – such as the government’s Rwanda plan.
Following a “warm meeting” with Mr Nehammer, Mr Sunak said the pair “see eye-to-eye on many of the big challenges before us”, including Ukraine and the Middle East.
He said they discussed illegal migration, which “has become truly one of the defining issues of our time”.
The prime minister congratulated his Austrian counterpart on his leadership on illegal migration “because he’s been right on this issue for a long time, and has led the charge in Europe”.
They committed to “deepening our cooperation to end this vile trade” and said there is a need to “think creatively… like the UK’s pioneering Rwanda scheme”.
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Record number of boats arrive in UK
The pair met after 15 EU countries, including Austria, signed a letter calling on the European Commission to tighten migration policy and to look at third country schemes.
“It’s increasingly clear that many other countries now agree that that is the approach that is required – bold, novel, looking at safe country partnerships,” Mr Sunak said.
Mr Nehammer said having safe asylum proceedings in safe third countries could “save human lives” by eradicating smuggling routes, and it is “something we need to put on the EU’s agenda as well”.
The number of people who have crossed the Channel in small boats to the UK this year has reached nearly 10,000.
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The government has now passed its legislation to deport asylum seekers to the African nation, but flights are not expected to start taking off until early July – and more legal challenges could also be launched.
Labour has branded the scheme an “expensive gimmick” and promised to scrap it if the party wins the next general election.
However, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the government was still “determined to operationalise Rwanda as part of the measures to protect our borders”.
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Pic: AP
Last year, the UK and Austria signed a “migration and security agreement” to work more closely on the issue, with the country keen to create its own third country scheme to address rising crossings in the Mediterranean.
However, unlike the UK’s Rwanda scheme, asylum seekers would be allowed to return to Austria if their applications were successful.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is considering a strategic reshuffling to strengthen its presence in the US market, a move that could see Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s majority stake in the company reduced.
Zhao’s controlling stake in Binance has been a “major hurdle” to the company expanding to strategically critical US states, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Although no concrete plans have been announced, the conversation surrounding any potential action remains reportedly “fluid.”
The company is also considering partnerships with US-based companies, including asset manager BlackRock and decentralized finance (DeFi) platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which is linked to US President Donald Trump, to strengthen its footprint in the country.
Rumors of Binance’s return to the US began to circulate in October after Trump pardoned Zhao, fueled by speculation from crypto industry executives and comments that Zhao made on social media.
“Will do everything we can to help make America the capital of crypto and advance Web3 worldwide,” Zhao said in October after the pardon.
In June 2019, Binance announced that it would stop serving US customers, and a separate company, called Binance.US and operated by BAM Trading Services, was formed to provide regulatory-compliant services to US users.
In 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Binance Holdings Ltd. operated both Binance.com and BAM Trading Services.
Binance.US does not feature crypto derivatives or access to the global Binance exchange’s liquidity and operates as a completely separate crypto exchange.
Cointelegraph reached out to Binance and Binance.US but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The US is considered a key market for crypto exchanges and is ranked as the number two for global crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Expanding to the US would open up US liquidity to the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Related: Binance names co-founder Yi He co-CEO alongside Richard Teng
Several US lawmakers voice opposition to the CZ pardon and the crypto industry
Trump’s pardon of Zhao in October drew backlash from several Democratic Party lawmakers in the US, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
Waters said the pardon was a form of pay-to-play and accused Trump of doing political favors for the crypto industry that “helped line his pockets.”
Warren, who is one of the most vocal critics of the crypto industry, also criticized the pardon, characterizing it as “corruption.”
The comments reflect pockets of resistance among some Democratic lawmakers to the crypto industry’s continued expansion in the US and could signal potential opposition to Binance returning to the US.
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
KuCoin announced an exclusive multiyear deal with Tomorrowland Winter and Tomorrowland Belgium from 2026 to 2028, making the exchange the music festival’s exclusive crypto and payments partner.
The move comes just weeks after KuCoin secured a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) service provider license in the European Union.
KuCoin’s MiCA play goes mass‑market
KuCoin EU Exchange recently obtained a crypto asset service provider license in Austria under the EU’s MiCA regime, giving it a fully regulated foothold in the bloc as Brussels’ new rulebook for exchanges, custody and stablecoins comes into force.
The Tomorrowland deal signals how KuCoin plans to use that status, not just to run a compliant trading venue, but to plug crypto rails directly into mainstream culture.
KuCoin said the Tomorrowland deal will cover Tomorrowland Winter 2026 in Alpe d’Huez, France, and Tomorrowland Belgium 2026 in Boom, Belgium, with the same arrangement continuing through 2028.
Related: Burning Man-inspired festival in Bali goes full Web3: Here’s how
From sponsorship to payment rails
KuCoin insists this is not just a logo play. A spokesperson at KuCoin told Cointelegraph that as an exclusive payments partner, the exchange is working with Tomorrowland to weave crypto into the festival’s existing payments stack so that “financial tools” sit behind the scenes of ticketing, merch and food and drink.
The stated goal is to keep the rails “intuitive and invisible,” rather than forcing festivalgoers through clunky wallets or unfamiliar flows, with KuCoin positioning itself as facilitating the secure and efficient movement of value while fans focus on the music.
The company declined to spell out exactly which assets and rails will be supported on‑site, or whether every purchase will run natively onchain, but said that KuCoin’s “Trust First. Trade Next.” mantra runs through its messaging.
The spokesperson stressed advanced security, multi‑layer protection and adherence to EU standards as the foundation for taking crypto beyond the trading screen and into live events.
Related: What is Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)?
Learning from FTX’s Tomorrowland flop
Tomorrowland’s organizers have been here before. In 2022, the festival announced a Web3 partnership with FTX Europe that promised NFTs and “the future of music festivals” before collapsing along with the exchange itself months later.
That experience makes the choice of a MiCA‑licensed partner, and the emphasis on user protection, more than cosmetic; it is a second attempt at bridging culture and crypto (this time with regulatory scaffolding and clearer guardrails).
Rather than setting public hard targets for user numbers or payment volumes by 2028, KuCoin is pitching success as “seamless integration” of crypto into the festival experience:
“We aim to demonstrate that digital assets can be a core component of global digital finance, moving from a niche technology to a mainstream utility. “
Related: Spain’s regulator sets out MiCA transition rules for crypto platforms
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