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SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has announced he intends to stand at the 2026 Holyrood election – but has brushed off speculation it’s a move to take over from John Swinney.

Mr Flynn, 36, was re-elected as the MP for Aberdeen South in July’s general election and has now submitted an application to seek his party’s nomination for the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine seat to become an MSP.

If successful, Mr Flynn said he would remain an MP until the next Westminster election but would not draw two salaries.

Writing in the Press and Journal newspaper, Mr Flynn said he was throwing his “bonnet in the ring”.

He added: “I don’t want to sit out the upcoming battles that our city, shire and country face in Holyrood.

“From funding the energy transition to funding childcare, from free higher education to higher household bills, from GP appointments to GDP growth, the debates will be many and varied.

“In my mind, it is clear that we are at a crucial junction in our nation’s story.”

More on Aberdeen

He also said he hoped to help his party “build the case for independence”.

Scottish National Party Westminster leader Stephen Flynn during the SNP General Election Campaign…
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SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn. Pic: PA

Mr Flynn has often been touted as a potential future party leader.

He did not run in this year’s SNP leadership race to replace Humza Yousaf and instead threw his backing behind eventual winner Mr Swinney.

As Mr Flynn is not an MSP, it would have been difficult to become first minister at Holyrood.

However, the potential move to the Scottish parliament would put him on the right track towards Scotland’s top job.

When asked by the Press and Journal about his leadership hopes, Mr Flynn said: “I don’t think the SNP is going to have a leadership contest for very many years.

“I’m fully confident in the manner in which John Swinney is rebuilding the party and refocusing government.

“I appreciate the desire that many people have to speculate in and around what my ambitions are or aren’t.

“Of course I want to do everything I possibly can to help my party and help my country and that will never change.”

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn after speaking to the media on College Green, London, outside the the Palace of Westminster, following the announcement that Humza Yousaf will resign as SNP leader and Scotland's First Minister, avoiding having to face a no confidence vote in his leadership. Picture date: Monday April 29, 2024.
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Pic: PA

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The deadline for applications to be considered for selection as an SNP candidate for the next Scottish parliament election closed on Monday, but the formal selection process will not begin until next year.

Mr Flynn said it “didn’t fill him with any great delight” to go up against sitting MSP Audrey Nicoll for selection to the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine constituency.

When contacted by Sky News, Ms Nicoll said: “As a constituency MSP, my focus will remain to work tirelessly for constituents regardless of any internal party selection processes.

“I look forward to any contest, where of course it will be for branch members to select those they wish to represent them in Holyrood in the 2026 Scottish parliament elections.”

Read more from Sky News:
What if Sunak had waited until now to call an election?

Scottish Tories demand statement over minister’s chauffeured car rides to football matches

Ahead of the 2021 Scottish election, the SNP changed internal rules to require MPs to resign their seat at Westminster to fight for selection to Holyrood.

This led to then MP Joanna Cherry to pull out of the selection contest for the Edinburgh Central seat, and at the time she said the rule change “hobbled” her in her Holyrood selection bid.

Mr Flynn said he believed party rules were “election-specific”.

Ms Cherry, who lost her Westminster seat in July, wished Mr Flynn well but said the SNP rule against dual mandates was “person specific”.

Posting on X, she added: “It served its purpose and I predict it will be removed.”

In his column, Mr Flynn said he would have to “box smarter and work even harder” as he pointed to examples of SNP politicians who have held seats in both parliaments before, citing Mr Swinney and the late former first minister Alex Salmond.

He added: “I’m positive about the prospect of walking the path they previously trod.”

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Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

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Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

The new trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump may place added pressure on the Bitcoin mining ecosystem both domestically and globally, according to one industry executive.

While the US is home to Bitcoin (BTC) mining manufacturing firms such as Auradine, it’s still “not possible to make the whole supply chain, including materials, US-based,” Kristian Csepcsar, chief marketing officer at BTC mining tech provider Braiins, told Cointelegraph.

On April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs, imposing a 10% tariff on all countries that export to the US and introducing “reciprocal” levies targeting America’s key trading partners.

Community members have debated the potential effects of the tariffs on Bitcoin, with some saying their impact has been overstated, while others see them as a significant threat.

Tariffs compound existing mining challenges

Csepcsar said the mining industry is already experiencing tough times, pointing to key indicators like the BTC hashprice.

Hashprice — a measure of a miner’s daily revenue per unit of hash power spent to mine BTC blocks — has been on the decline since 2022 and dropped to all-time lows of $50 for the first time in 2024.

According to data from Bitbo, the BTC hashprice was still hovering around all-time low levels of $53 on March 30.

Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

Bitcoin hashprice since late 2013. Source: Bitbo

“Hashprice is the key metric miners follow to understand their bottom line. It is how many dollars one terahash makes a day. A key profitability metric, and it is at all-time lows, ever,” Csepcsar said.

He added that mining equipment tariffs were already increasing under the Biden administration in 2024, and cited comments from Summer Meng, general manager at Chinese crypto mining supplier Bitmars.

Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

Source: Summer Meng

“But they keep getting stricter under Trump,” Csepcsar added, referring to companies such as the China-based Bitmain — the world’s largest ASIC manufacturer — which is subject to the new tariffs.

Trump’s latest measures include a 34% additional tariff on top of an existing 20% levy for Chinese mining imports. In response, China reportedly imposed its own retaliatory tariffs on April 4.

BTC mining firms to “lose in the short term”

Csepcsar also noted that cutting-edge chips for crypto mining are currently massively produced in countries like Taiwan and South Korea, which were hit by new 32% and 25% tariffs, respectively.

“It will take a decade for the US to catch up with cutting-edge chip manufacturing. So again, companies, including American ones, lose in the short term,” he said.

Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec

Source: jmhorp

Csepcsar also observed that some countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States region, including Russia and Kazakhstan, have been beefing up mining efforts and could potentially overtake the US in hashrate dominance.

Related: Bitcoin mining using coal energy down 43% since 2011 — Report

“If we continue to see trade war, these regions with low tariffs and more favorable mining conditions can see a major boom,” Csepcsar warned.

As the newly announced tariffs potentially hurt Bitcoin mining both globally and in the US, it may become more difficult for Trump to keep his promise of making the US the global mining leader.

Trump’s stance on crypto has shifted multiple times over the years. As his administration embraces a more pro-crypto agenda, it remains to be seen how the latest economic policies will impact his long-term strategy for digital assets.

Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23 – 29

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Malta regulator fines OKX crypto exchange $1.2M for past AML breaches

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Malta regulator fines OKX crypto exchange .2M for past AML breaches

Malta regulator fines OKX crypto exchange .2M for past AML breaches

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX is under renewed regulatory scrutiny in Europe after Maltese authorities issued a major fine for violations of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.

Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) fined Okcoin Europe — OKX’s Europe-based subsidiary — 1.1 million euros ($1.2 million) after detecting multiple AML failures on the platform in the past, the authority announced on April 3.

While admitting that OKX has significantly improved its AML policies in the past 18 months, the authority “could not ignore” its past compliance failures from 2023, “some of which were deemed to be serious and systematic,” the FIAU notice said.

OKX was among the first crypto exchanges to receive a license under Europe’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation via its Malta hub in January 2025.

The news of the $1.2 million penalty in Malta came after Bloomberg in March reported that European Union regulators were probing OKX for laundering $100 million in funds from the Bybit hack.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou previously claimed that OKX’s Web3 proxy allowed hackers to launder about $100 million, or 40,233 Ether (ETH), from the $1.5 billion hack that occurred in February.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Magazine: Stablecoin for cyber-scammers launches, Sony L2 drama: Asia Express

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US court fines UAE crypto firm CLS Global $428K for wash trading

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US court fines UAE crypto firm CLS Global 8K for wash trading

US court fines UAE crypto firm CLS Global 8K for wash trading

Authorities in the US state of Massachusetts continue targeting unlawful cryptocurrency market practices, with a local court fining crypto financial services firm CLS Global.

A federal court in Boston on April 2 sentenced CLS Global on criminal charges related to fraudulent manipulation of crypto trading volume, according to an announcement from the Massachusetts US Attorney’s Office.

In addition to a $428,059 fine, the court prohibited CLS Global from offering services in the US for a probation period of three years.

CLS Global, a crypto market maker registered in the United Arab Emirates, in January pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit market manipulation and one count of wire fraud.

CLS agreed to manipulate the FBI’s “trap token” NexFundAI

The charges against CLS Global followed an undercover law enforcement operation involving NexFundAI, a token created by the FBI as part of a sting operation in May 2024.

CLS Global was among at least three firms that took the FBI’s bait and agreed to provide “market maker services” for NexFundAI, including a fraudulent scheme to attract investors to purchase the token.

In October 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against CLS and its employee, Andrey Zhorzhes. The US securities regulator also filed complaints against two other NexFundAI manipulators, Hong Kong-linked ZM Quant Investment and Russia-linked Gotbit Consulting.

CLS Global’s profile

According to CLS Global CEO Filipp Veselov, the company was founded in 2017 to fill in a “huge gap in the market for high-quality market-making solutions and trading consulting.”

Prior to CLS, Veselov worked at the Russian cryptocurrency exchange platform Latoken, which is advertised as a “global digital asset exchange” and has about 370,000 followers on X.

The CLS team also includes chief revenue officer Pavel Singaevskii, who previously served as sales manager at Stex, a crypto platform that reportedly ceased operations without warning in 2023.

US court fines UAE crypto firm CLS Global $428K for wash trading

Source: CLS Global

According to CLS Global’s X page, the platform continues operating and has more than 110,000 followers at the time of publication.

How much wash trading is in crypto?

Wash trading is an illegal practice involving artificially inflating trading volume by repeatedly buying and selling the same asset, generating a misleading perception of demand.

According to a January 2025 report by the US blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the crypto market has at least $2.6 billion in estimated wash traded volumes, or just about 2% of total daily crypto trading volumes, as reported by CoinGecko.

US court fines UAE crypto firm CLS Global $428K for wash trading

Estimated wash trade volume in crypto. Source: Chainalysis

Related: Russian Gotbit founder strikes $23M plea deal with US prosecutors

Some studies indicate that wash trading makes up a bigger share of the crypto market.

In 2022, the US National Bureau of Economic Research reported that illegal wash trading may account for as much as 70% of average trading volumes on unregulated exchanges.

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

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