$Sir Keir Starmer held calls with European leaders to ensure Western alliance 'does not fracture'$

Sir Keir Starmer held calls with European leaders to ensure Western alliance ‘does not fracture’

Published

2 months ago

February 20, 2025

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Sir Keir Starmer has held private calls with European leaders to ensure the Western alliance does not fracture, a minister has said, after Donald Trump claimed Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a “dictator”.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast the prime minister has spent a “quite considerable amount of time” over the past few days talking privately to European leaders “to make sure that the alliance doesn’t fracture”.

The conversations come ahead of a meeting with Mr Trump in Washington DC next week after the president said Ukrainian leader Mr Zelenskyy was a dictator.

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He also said Mr Zelenskyy “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left” as peace talks between the US and Russia – without Ukraine – took place in Saudi Arabia.

The decision for the talks to take place without Kyiv or Europe has caused concern and sparked an emergency meeting of European leaders in France earlier this week.

Sir Keir backed the Ukrainian president in a phone call with him and said he was “Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”.

Ms Nandy said Sir Keir has been very clear Mr Zelenskyy is not a dictator and added: “As always, we stand with Ukraine.”

She said the UK government was “very encouraged” by the US saying no options are off the table when it comes to Ukraine peace talks.

Ms Nandy added: “We want to, bring partners together around the table and it looks increasingly likely that will be possible – both Ukraine, Russia, the Europeans ourselves and the United States.

“We can’t do this without any of those partners and that’s why the prime minister has spent quite considerable amount of time in the last few days having those private conversations with our allies to make sure that alliance doesn’t fracture, that we stand as one and we find the right solution for Ukraine, which in the end will be in the interests of the British people.”

In an X post about Sir Keir’s call to Mr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader said: “The United Kingdom’s role in fortifying Europe’s defence and security is important for us.”

The “UK’s support matters indeed, and we will never forget the respect the British people have shown for Ukraine and our citizens”, he added.

Western officials have signalled the UK and other European countries could deploy under 30,000 personnel to Ukrainian cities, ports and nuclear power plants as part of a peacekeeping deal.

Former head of the British Army, Lord Dannatt, has said about 100,000 troops would be needed.

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel also told Sky News Mr Trump was “wrong” about calling Mr Zelenskyy a dictator.

But she said he had made “some very significant points consistently” about Europe “stepping up when it comes to defence spending”.

Dame Priti added: “We should now look to show some leadership when it comes to defence spending, corralling our European allies, NATO, leading NATO to basically say to our NATO allies as well in Europe, this is our moment again, yes, to continue the support towards the people of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, in this conflict, but also step up on that entire agenda of military security and defence.”

Politics

Environment secretary defends green policies – after Sir Tony Blair says net zero is ‘doomed to fail’

Published

2 hours ago

April 30, 2025

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Environment secretary defends green policies - after Sir Tony Blair says net zero is 'doomed to fail'

The environment secretary has defended the government’s net zero agenda after Sir Tony Blair said phasing out fossil fuels was “doomed to fail”.

The former prime minister said the approach to transitioning to a green economy wasn’t “working” and was “inadequate” in a report published yesterday by the Tony Blair Institute.

But speaking to Sky News’ Wilfred Frost on Breakfast, Steve Reed said the government was “moving away from sticking plaster solutions towards doing what’s right for the future of the economy, and for the future of households”.

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He said transitioning to a green economy was necessary for the UK to take back “control of our own energy supply” especially in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

In his foreword to the report, Sir Tony called the whole strategy of transitioning to a green economy “unrealistic”.

“Present policy solutions are inadequate and, worse, are distorting the debate into a quest for a climate platform that is unrealistic and therefore unworkable,” he wrote.

“Too often, political leaders fear saying what many know to be true: the current approach isn’t working.”

Asked whether he believed Sir Tony was right to say the focus shouldn’t be on using less fossil fuels but on using methods such as carbon capture, Mr Reed conceded that “we’ll still be using fossil fuels… for some time to come”.

He added: “For many decades to come. The transition is so, so transition isn’t gonna happen overnight.”

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins told Sky News that Sir Tony’s message should prompt a “rethink” in government.

“If even Tony Blair doesn’t agree with the Labour government, then that is quite a clear message. I would imagine to them that they have got to rethink this.”

Politics

SEC drops investigation into PayPal’s stablecoin

Published

9 hours ago

April 30, 2025

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SEC drops investigation into PayPal’s stablecoin

PayPal says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has abandoned its investigation into the payment giant’s US-dollar stablecoin.

PayPal said in an April 29 regulatory filing that the SEC concluded its investigation into PayPal USD (PYUSD) and wouldn’t be taking any action.

The company said it received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement over its stablecoin in November 2023.

“The subpoena requests the production of documents. We are cooperating with the SEC in connection with this request,” PayPal stated at the time.

In its latest filing, the firm said the SEC notified it in February that the agency “was closing this inquiry without enforcement action.”

PayPal has said its stablecoin is 100% redeemable for US dollars and “fully backed” by dollar deposits, including short-term treasuries and cash equivalents.

However, the stablecoin has struggled to gain momentum in a crowded market dominated by rivals Tether and Circle. PYUSD has a market capitalization of just $880 million, less than 1% of Tether’s (USDT) $148.5 billion.

PayPal’s stablecoin has seen better growth this year with a 75% increase in PYUSD circulating supply since the beginning of 2025, according to CoinGecko. It remains down 14% from its peak supply of just over $1 billion in August 2024.

Earnings on PYUSD, Coinbase partnership

That growth could be bolstered by a company announcement on April 23 introducing rewards for PYUSD in a new loyalty offering that will enable US users to earn 3.7% annually for holding the asset on the platform.

Meanwhile, on April 24, PayPal announced a partnership with Coinbase to increase the adoption of PYUSD.

“We are excited to drive new, exciting, and innovative use cases together with Coinbase and the entire cryptocurrency community, putting PYUSD at the center,” said Alex Chriss, PayPal President and CEO.

The payments giant also reported robust first-quarter earnings and the completion of significant share repurchase activities.

The firm beat Wall Street estimates, earning $1.33 per share in the first quarter, topping analyst expectations of $1.16. Revenue rose 1% from a year before to $7.8 billion.

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BlackRock files to create digital shares tracking one of its money market funds

Published

9 hours ago

April 30, 2025

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BlackRock files to create digital shares tracking one of its money market funds

Asset manager BlackRock has filed to create digital ledger technology shares from one of the firm’s money market funds, which will leverage blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for investors.

The DLT shares will track BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund (TTTXX), which may only be purchased from BlackRock Advisors and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the firm said in its April 29 Form N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The money market fund holds over $150 million worth of assets, invested almost entirely in US Treasury bills and cash.

BlackRock said that the shares “are expected to be purchased and held through BNY, which intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers.”

Unlike the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), DLT shares won’t be tokenized but will instead be used as a transparency tool to verify ownership.

BlackRock will continue to maintain traditional book-entry records as the official ownership ledger.

BlackRock didn’t propose a ticker or set a management fee for the DLT shares in its filing.

A minimum initial investment of $3 million worth of DLT is required for institutions seeking to purchase the digital shares.

BlackRock follows Fidelity’s March 21 filing to list an Ethereum-based OnChain share class, which seeks to track the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX) — an $80 million fund consisting almost entirely of US Treasury bills.

While the OnChain share class filing is pending regulatory approval, Fidelity expects it to take effect on May 30.

Wall Street heavyweights continue to explore blockchain use cases

Asset managers have increasingly turned to blockchain to tokenize Treasury bills, bonds and private credit over the past few years.

The treasury tokenization market is currently valued at $6.16 billion, led by BlackRock’s BUIDL at $2.55 billion, while the Franklin Templeton-issued Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (BENJI) secures over $700 million worth of real-world assets, according to rwa.xyz.

Ethereum remains the chain of choice for tokenizing treasury assets, and currently houses over $4.55 billion worth, while the Stellar network and Solana round out the top three at $474.9 million and $274.5 million, respectively.

The potential of RWA tokenization has also been championed by BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, who believes the technology could revolutionize investing.

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