Red or blue? Sky News holds draw to decide whether Sunak or Starmer faces questions first in leaders’ event
Sky News has held an FA Cup-style draw to determine who will face questions first in its special leaders’ event on Wednesday – Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer.
The Conservative and Labour leaders will answer questions from Beth Rigby, as well as members of the public, during the Battle For Number 10 broadcast.
The running order has now been decided live on Sky News as chief political correspondent Jon Craig carried out the draw.
Explaining the draw, Craig said: “This is a bag with two balls in it – one is red and one is blue.
“This is not a time for soundbites but I do feel the hand of history is in this bag right now.”
The running order was decided live on Sky News
As he drew the first ball, Craig said: “This is the moment – it’s red. That means Sir Keir Starmer goes first.”
Guto Harri, former Downing Street director of communications, said: “Rishi gets the last word.”
Award-winning political editor Rigby will scrutinise the leaders on their commitments to the country during 20-minute in-depth interviews.
The Battle For Number 10 – a Sky News Leaders Special Event will air live on Sky News on Wednesday from 7pm from Grimsby – an area expected to play a key role in the election.
Sky News’s lead UK presenter Sarah-Jane Mee will be among the representative audience – drawn from the local area and nationally – as they put their questions to Mr Sunak and Sir Keir in 25-minute slots.
It will be the second televised event with the two party leaders, coming halfway through the general election campaign and just three weeks ahead of polls opening. At the first leaders’ debate last week, Mr Sunak and Sir Keir were given 45 seconds to respond to each question put to them.
Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will take part in Sky News’ leaders’ special. Pics: Reuters
Sky News executive editor and managing editor Jonathan Levy said: “People said they wanted to hear more from Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, so Sky News is giving them more time to tell you about their plans for your future. Each candidate – 45 minutes, not 45 seconds… in-depth and unfiltered.
“We’re giving the nation the full story, first.”
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Starmer prepares for Sky’s leadership event
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Sir Keir said: “I’m really looking forward to it because I enjoy being able to talk directly to Sky viewers and to the audience there in Grimsby.
“I think having slightly more time will allow us to develop some of the answers that we need to give.”
The new Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituency is complex and likely to be a key battleground in the election.
Grimsby turned Conservative for the first time since the end of the Second World War in 2019, with many people at the time feeling a cultural rift with the Labour Party.
The constituency has now been combined with Cleethorpes, where the Tories have been in power since 2010, but support for them is fading.
Since its formation in 1997, Cleethorpes has been a bellwether seat, backing the largest party in Westminster.
The Battle For Number 10 Leaders Special Event, airs on Wednesday from 7pm-10pm on Sky News – free wherever you get your news.
Freeview channel 233, Sky 501, Virgin 603, BT 313 and streaming on the Sky News website, app and across social channels. It is also available to watch on Sky Showcase.
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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