Sir Keir Starmer says he took £20,000 donation after promise to protect family in Sky News interview

Published

7 months ago

September 25, 2024

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Sir Keir Starmer accepted a £20,000 donation for the use of a flat during the election after promising his family he would protect them.

The prime minister‘s register of interests shows a declaration for accommodation provided by Lord Waheed Alli to the value of £20,437.28 from 29 May to 13 July this year. The election was called on 22 May.

Sir Keir said in a Sky News interview on Wednesday he had “promised” his 16-year-old son he could get to his school and sit his exams without being disturbed.

Politics latest: Tetchy PM hits back at questions over donations

The prime minister said he had made a pledge to his wife, son and daughter that he would “protect them”.

Sir Keir told political editor Beth Rigby that when the election was called ahead of the exam period, it meant there were “a lot of journalists” and also protesters “outside my front door”.

At this point the Labour leader told his son, who is 16, they would find somewhere he could “just study and get to school and back without having to go through all of that”.

Sir Keir says it was after this that “someone” offered to make a flat “available” for the junior Starmer – but claimed “no money exchanged hands”.

“I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside the front door”, the father of two added.

Will donation rules be changed?

Challenged on whether he was being defensive about the decision – which has been criticised when the current government is expected to raise taxes in the upcoming budget – Sir Keir repeated it was “important” to explain that “behind some of these numbers is a human story”.

When asked whether this was also the case for the thousands of pounds worth of clothes, hospitality, sports and music tickets, Sir Keir said it was a judgement call to be made by each MP on whether to accept donations.

However, he claimed his use of the directors’ box at Arsenal – where he regularly attends – was offered by the club, and he uses it to avoid increasing taxpayer spending on his security.

He also repeated his stance that he would no longer accept donations for clothing.

The prime minister declined to say whether he would ban MPs accepting such donations.

Sir Keir has come under fire for accepting two and a half times more donations than any other MP after being highly critical of the Conservatives accepting donations.

Lord Alli, 59, a former chair of online fashion giant Asos, is his largest personal donor.

The TV executive, who has donated to the party for 20 years, has become the focus of Labour’s conference in Liverpool due to the amount he has donated to Sir Keir.

Of £107,000 worth of gifts and hospitality handed to Sir Keir since December 2019, Lord Alli gave him the equivalent of £39,122.

He has also donated to other Labour MPs, including £14,000 for work events to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and he let Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner stay at his New York home over New Year’s Eve.

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Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates bumped into Lord Alli at the Labour conference on Tuesday and asked if he regrets making any of the donations.

However, the peer avoided the question and turned away, refusing to speak. The previous day, he told another Sky News correspondent: “Please don’t – this is not very nice.”

Politics

China selling seized crypto to top up coffers as economy slows: Report

Published

4 hours ago

April 16, 2025

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China selling seized crypto to top up coffers as economy slows: Report

Local governments in China are reportedly seeking ways to offload seized crypto while facing challenges due to the country’s ban on crypto trading and exchanges.

The lack of rules around how authorities should handle seized crypto has spawned “inconsistent and opaque approaches” that some fear could foster corruption, lawyers told Reuters for an April 16 report.

Chinese local governments are using private companies to sell seized cryptocurrencies in offshore markets in exchange for cash to replenish public coffers, Reuters reported, citing transaction and court documents.

The local governments reportedly held approximately 15,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $1.4 billion at the end of 2023, and the sales have been a significant source of income.

China holds an estimated 194,000 BTC worth approximately $16 billion and is the second largest nation Bitcoin holder behind the US, according to Bitbo.

Zhongnan University of Economics and Law professor Chen Shi told Reuters that these sales are a “makeshift solution that, strictly speaking, is not fully in line with China’s current ban on crypto trading.”

The issue has been exacerbated by a rise in crypto-related crime in China, ranging from online fraud to money laundering to illegal gambling. Additionally, the state sued more than 3,000 people involved in crypto-related money laundering in 2024.

China crypto reserve floated as solution

Shenzhen-based lawyer Guo Zhihao opined that the central bank is better positioned to deal with seized digital assets and should either sell them overseas or build a crypto reserve.

Ru Haiyang, co-CEO at Hong Kong crypto exchange HashKey, echoed the suggestion saying that China may want to keep forfeited Bitcoin as a strategic reserve as US President Donald Trump is doing.

Creating a crypto sovereign fund in Hong Kong, where crypto trading is legal, has also been proposed.

This issue has gained attention amid rising US-China trade tensions and Trump’s plans to regulate stablecoins and foster growth and innovation in the crypto industry.

Several industry observers have suggested that China’s tariff response could result in a devaluation of the local currency, which may result in a flight to crypto.

Magazine: Illegal arcade disguised as … a fake Bitcoin mine? Soldier scams in China: Asia Express

Politics

3iQ’s Canadian Solana ETF selects Figment as staking provider

Published

12 hours ago

April 15, 2025

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3iQ’s Canadian Solana ETF selects Figment as staking provider

Blockchain infrastructure provider Figment has been selected as the staking provider for 3iQ’s newly approved Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF), underscoring Canada’s continued efforts toward adoption of digital asset financial products.

Figment will enable institutional staking for the 3iQ Solana (SOL) Staking ETF, which launches on the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 16 under the ticker SOLQ, the companies said in a statement. In addition to 3iQ, Figment provides staking infrastructure solutions to more than 700 clients.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), a provincial regulator, green-lighted 3iQ’s SOL fund on April 14. The approval was also extended to other fund managers seeking to offer SOL ETFs, including Purpose, Evolve and CI.

As Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported at the time, the funds are permitted to stake a portion of their SOL holdings through TD Bank, Canada’s second-largest financial institution by assets.

3iQ estimates that its SOL fund will provide yields of between 6% and 8%, according to its website.

3iQ leads Canadian crypto ETFs as US regulators drag their feet

As US regulators continue to consider various crypto-related fund offerings, Canada has been leading the curve in adoption going back to 2021. That was the year that 3iQ debuted its spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, which crossed $1 billion in net assets almost immediately.

It would take nearly three more years before spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved in the United States. Like their Canadian counterparts, the US ETFs saw overwhelming success in their first year, generating more than $38 billion in net inflows.

In October 2023, 3iQ launched an ETF tied to Ether (ETH), giving investors direct access to the smart contract platform. Unlike the Ether ETFs that US regulators approved the following year, 3iQ’s fund offers staking rewards.

As Cointelegraph recently reported, US regulators may be on the cusp of approving staking rewards after they authorized exchanges to list options contracts tied to ETH.

Politics

Ethena Labs exits German market following agreement with BaFin

Published

16 hours ago

April 15, 2025

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Ethena Labs exits German market following agreement with BaFin

Synthetic stablecoin developer Ethena Labs is winding down its German operations less than a month after regulators identified “deficiencies” in its dollar-pegged USDe (USDE) stablecoin, signaling heightened scrutiny around crypto assets in Europe’s largest economy.

Ethena Labs reached an agreement with Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, also known as BaFin, to cease all operations of its local subsidiary, Ethena GmbH, according to an April 15 announcement.

Germany, European Union, Stablecoin, MiCA — *Source:* *Ethena Labs*

As such, Ethena Labs “will no longer be pursuing MiCAR authorization in Germany,” the company said, referring to the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation.

The company reiterated that Ethena’s German subsidiary has not conducted any mint or redeem activity for USDe since March 21, the day BaFin halted the stablecoin’s activities. As Cointelegraph reported at the time, the German regulator identified compliance failures and potential securities law violations tied to USDe.

“All whitelisted mint and redeem users previously interacting with Ethena GmbH have at their request been onboarded with Ethena (BVI) Limited instead and have no ongoing relationship with Ethena GmbH whatsoever,” the company said.

Unlike popular stablecoins USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC), Ethena’s USDe maintains its dollar peg through an automated delta-hedging strategy that includes a combination of spot holdings, onchain custody and liquidity buffers.

USDe is the fourth-largest stablecoin with a total circulating value of $4.9 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

MiCA tightens the noose around stablecoin usage

MiCA is a comprehensive framework for cryptocurrency usage across the European Union, enforcing strict compliance standards and consumer protections.

To meet the new requirements, stablecoin issuers must have adequate reserves backing their tokens, ensure reserve assets are segregated from users’ assets and fulfill regular reporting obligations.

As of February, 10 stablecoin issuers have been approved under MiCA, including Circle, Crypto.com, Societe Generale and Membrane Finance.

Patrick Hansen, Circle’s senior director of EU strategy and policy, told Cointelegraph that a total of 10 euro-pegged stablecoins and five US dollar-pegged stablecoins have been approved so far.

However, notably absent from the list is USDt issuer Tether, which has decided not to pursue MiCA registration at this time.