Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns says Nigel Farage’s row with Rupert Lowe was ‘clearly a big falling out’ – but insists it will ‘blow over’

Published

9 hours ago

March 14, 2025

admin

Reform UK’s most senior woman has told Sky News the Rupert Lowe row “doesn’t look great” and she doesn’t “want to see it in the news any more days”.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who defected to Reform last year, accepted it was “clearly a big falling out” but suggested these spats do not always cut through to the public.

She insisted she was concentrating on winning as she looks to become the party’s first ever mayor in May.

In an interview with Sky News, Dame Andrea also spoke for the first time about her experience of domestic abuse, denying Reform has a “woman problem” but accepted “we need to start talking more about issues, what women are interested in”.

Having lost her seat as a Conservative in the 2024 election, Dame Andrea briefly quit politics only to return earlier this year as Reform’s newest recruit.

She is now standing as the party’s candidate to become the first Greater Lincolnshire mayor, in a race that psephologists think could be Reform’s best hope of turning itself from a party of protest into one that is governing.

That’s because Reform is on the march in Lincolnshire, which is a key battleground between the Conservatives and Reform in the local and mayoral elections in May.

Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, took the Conservative seat of Boston and Skegness in the last election as Reform came second in a further two of the county’s eight constituencies.

This farming country has long been part of the patchwork of Conservative England and it is in these heartlands that Reform hopes it can land a significant blow to its political rivals in the coming weeks.

“It’s a worry,” admits one Labour insider who doesn’t much relish the prospect of having to deal with a newly minted Reform party mayor should Dame Andrea win in May against Labour candidate Jason Stockwood, the Conservative Rob Waltham and independent Marianne Overton.

There is also the Lincolnshire council race, which Reform is targeting. All 70 seats are up for grabs and the Conservatives, which have a 38-seat majority, are defending 53 seats. The only way is up for Reform here, while the Conservatives, who have held this council for 10 of the past 13 elections, are bracing for a drubbing.

Tories say Jenkyns is from Yorkshire

The Conservatives make the point that they have a “strong local candidate who is born and bred in Lincolnshire, whereas Dame Andrea is from Yorkshire” when I ask them about the race.

“We are fighting hard, we have a proven track record of delivery in charge of local services whereas Reform aren’t tried and tested,” the Conservatives said.

“And if they’re anything like Reform nationally, who don’t turn up on important votes, then they won’t show up for people locally.”

Dame Andrea is still based in Yorkshire where she used to be an MP, as this is where her son attends school. But she rents a place in Lincolnshire and has vowed to move to the county should she win the mayoralty.

She also points out that she grew up in Lincolnshire and was a local councillor before moving to Yorkshire after her shock victory over Ed Balls in the 2015 general election.

‘Fed up’ farmers eyeing Reform

When we meet her on the road in Lincolnshire, she takes us to meet some farmers whose livelihoods are under intense pressure – be it over local flooding and flood defences or changes to inheritance tax and farming subsidies that are affecting their farms.

There is little love for Labour in the gathering of farmers, who in the main seem to be lapsed Conservative voters that are now eyeing Reform, as a number of them tell me how they are fed up with how the Environment Agency and local politicians are running their area.

“We’re fed up with all of them,” said one farmer.

“We just want some action. As farmers we know drainage is so important, we just want to get it sorted.”

They are also alarmed and anxious about the inheritance tax changes introduced by Labour and are pressing for carve-outs for small farms handed down from generation to generation amid fears they will have to sell up to pay the inheritance tax bills.

But the troubles at the top of Reform hadn’t gone unnoticed by this group. Unprompted, one of the farmers raised the row between the suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe and the party leadership, telling Dame Andrea that while he “really likes Reform” he doesn’t much like what he’s seeing at the moment.

‘Spat looks worse because Reform is small’

The farmer said: “I don’t follow politics avidly. But I just look and say [Rupert Lowe] is full of common sense and I really like him and I don’t know what’s happened, but it looks from outside [he has been] chucked under the bus.

“And I’m like, am I getting second thoughts about Reform? I don’t know what’s gone on, but it concerns me about what’s going on with Reform.”

Dame Andrea tries to downplay it and says the “spat” looks worse because it’s a smaller party.

“To me it’s about the movement, the right policies, to carry on. What is the alternative? This will blow over and Reform will keep getting strong,” she said.

Can Jenkyns and Farage co-exist?

Dame Andrea would clearly like the infighting to stop, but it raises questions for me about how she will fit into this very male-dominated party, in which all four MPs are male, with Dame Andrea the only senior woman beyond the former Conservative minister Ann Widdicombe.

She is, like Nigel Farage, a disrupter – Dame Andrea was one of the first Tories to call for Theresa May and Rishi Sunak to stand down, and a conviction politician who fervently backed Boris Johnson and Brexit.

If she does win this mayoral race she will be a big personality in Reform alongside Farage, which leaves me wondering if they can co-exist in a party already at war.

Jenkyns was in an abusive relationship

Reform does struggle with female voters, with fewer women voting for the party against all age cohorts, young to old. Dame Andrea tells me she doesn’t think the party has a “woman problem”, but she does think it needs to talk about more issues that she thinks women are interested in, citing education, special educational needs and mental health.

When I raise the matter of violence against women and how the party has handled revelations that one of its own MPs was jailed in a youth detention centre as a teenager for assaulting his girlfriend, Dame Andrea reveals to me she has been in an abusive relationship.

“I know how it can break you. I know how you sort of start losing your identity. So I’ve been on that side,” she said.

“And I’ve also helped constituents to fight against this, so it matters, we need to do more in society because whether it’s men or women, one is too much in my view.”

👉Listen to Politics At Jack And Sam’s on your podcast app👈

Out on the campaign trail, even in the Labour territory of Lincoln where Hamish Falconer is the local MP, Dame Andrea gets a warm welcome. She tells me she thinks she can win it: “I might be living in blind hope here. But I’ve got that feeling.”

This corner of England has become a test bed for Reform to see if it can turn from a party of protest into one that has a shot at governing in the form of a regional mayor.

If Reform can succeed in that – what might come next? It would be a remarkable comeback for Dame Andrea and a remarkable victory for Reform too.

Politics

Congress repealed the IRS broker rule, but can it regulate DeFi?

Published

46 mins ago

March 14, 2025

admin

Congress repealed the IRS broker rule, but can it regulate DeFi?

The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry is breathing a sigh of relief as Congress relaxes reporting obligations, but questions remain about how lawmakers will regulate DeFi.

On March 12, the House of Representatives voted to nullify a rule that required DeFi protocols to report gross proceeds from crypto sales, as well as info on taxpayers involved, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The rule, which the IRS issued in December 2024 and wasn’t set to take effect until 2027, was regarded by major industry lobby groups as burdensome and beyond the agency’s authority.

The White House has already signaled its support for the bill. President Donald Trump is ready to sign when it reaches his desk. But DeFi observers note that the industry has yet to strike a balance between privacy and regulation.

Privacy concerns over IRS DeFi rule

The crypto industry was quick to laud the vote in the House. Marta Belcher, president of the Filecoin Foundation, said that blocking the rule was particularly important for user privacy.

She told Cointelegraph it is “critical to protect people’s ability to transact directly with each other via open-source code (like smart contracts and decentralized exchanges) while remaining anonymous, in the same way that people can transact directly with each other using cash.”

Privacy concerns were central to the crypto industry’s objections to the rule, with industry observers claiming that it was not fit for purpose and infringed on user privacy.

Bill Hughes, senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters for Consensys Software wrote in December 2024, “Trading front ends would have to track and report on user activity — both US persons and non-US persons […] And it applies to the sale of every single digital asset — including NFTs and even stablecoins.”

The Blockchain Association, a major crypto industry lobby group, stated that the rule was “an infringement on the privacy rights of individuals using decentralized technology” that would push DeFi offshore.

While the rule has been stopped for now, there still aren’t fixed privacy guidelines in place — something Etherealize CEO Vivek Raman said the industry needs to move forward.

“There needs to be clear frameworks for blockchain-based privacy while maintaining [Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering] requirements,” he told Cointelegraph.

Raman stated that some transactions and customer data will need to remain private, “and we need guidance on what privacy can look like.”

How do you regulate DeFi?

The crypto space has long juggled user privacy demands and regulators’ Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer concerns.

One problem lies in the technology itself — if a network is created by many and controlled by no single entity, who can the government contact?

Per Raman, “It’s hard for a decentralized protocol that is controlled by nobody to issue 1099s or fulfill broker-dealer responsibilities! Companies can certainly be [broker-dealers], but software has not been designed for [broker-dealer] rules.”

DeFi developers can and have been proactive in working with regulators, Chainalysis suggested, as was the case with certain protocols freezing funds after the disastrous $285 million KuCoin hack.

Cinneamhain Ventures partner and consultant Adam Cochran claimed that every protocol has certain pressure points regulators could press on if a protocol were used to commit a crime:

Law, Congress, Privacy, US Government, Donald Trump, Features, Policy — *Source:* *Adam Cochran*

However, these specific instances do not make a comprehensive regulatory framework that both the industry and investor protection agencies can point to.

In that regard, crypto analytics firm Chainalysis stated in 2020 that regulators may need to craft regulations for the DeFi space with decentralized reporting limitations in mind.

Raman suggested that one possible solution could be zero-knowledge proofs, which allow users to confirm certain data without revealing it.

He is optimistic about regulators’ ability to find a way to regulate the space while still maintaining user privacy: “I think we’ll see a positive sum environment where DeFi and compliance will coexist.”

The long-awaited crypto regulatory framework

Trump has already made a number of pro-crypto measures through executive orders and appointing pro-crypto individuals to head parts of his administration — the most recent being the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

The pro-crypto tenure of important financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has dropped a number of high-profile enforcement cases against crypto firms.

While notable, the big fish that the crypto industry is waiting for is the crypto regulatory framework and stablecoin bills circulating in Congress, which would give the industry the guardrails it claims it needs to thrive.

On March 13, the Senate Banking Committee approved the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin bill, putting it one step closer to a vote on the Senate floor.

The crypto framework bill, FIT 21, was first introduced in the 2024 legislative session, ultimately failing in the Senate. However, in February, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill said that he anticipated the bill could pass in this session with “modest changes.”

But even if FIT 21 were passed soon, regulations for DeFi could be far off. The bill would exclude DeFi from SEC and CFTC oversight, but it would also establish a working group to research 12 key areas related to DeFi.

This study will seek to understand the risks and benefits of DeFi and will ultimately make regulatory recommendations.

Magazine: Vitalik on AI apocalypse, LA Times both-sides KKK, LLM grooming: AI Eye

Politics

Hong Kong fintech sector sees 250% blockchain growth since 2022

Published

2 hours ago

March 14, 2025

admin

Hong Kong fintech sector sees 250% blockchain growth since 2022

Hong Kong anticipates the continued growth of its fintech ecosystem, with blockchain, digital assets, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and artificial intelligence playing a central role in shaping its future.

Hong Kong is home to over 1,100 fintech companies. This includes 175 blockchain application or software firms and 111 digital asset and cryptocurrency companies, which marked 250% and 30% increases, respectively, since 2022, according to the Hong Kong Fintech Ecosystem report by InvestHK, a government department overseeing Foreign Direct Investments.

Exploring deeper fintech revenue streams

The expansive growth of Hong Kong’s Web3 industry is attributed to proactive government policies and an active licensing regime for crypto exchanges or virtual asset trading platforms.

“The revenue for the Hong Kong fintech market is projected to reach US$606 billion by 2032, with an anticipated annual growth rate of 28.5% from 2024 to 2032,” the report stated.

InvestHK, along with other Hong Kong authorities, surveyed 130 fintech companies operating in Hong Kong and identified talent shortage as the top concern in the region, cited by 58.8% of respondents, followed by access to capital at 43.9%.

Addressing these hurdles will be critical to sustaining Hong Kong’s momentum to become the top financial hub.

Over 73% of the surveyed fintech companies operate in the AI subsector, far exceeding the 41.5% focused on digital assets and cryptocurrency.

China’s “one country, two systems” policy at play

The InvestHK report highlighted Hong Kong’s advantage in adopting China’s “one country, two systems” policy, allowing it to maintain a free-market economy, unrestricted capital flow and strong global trade relations while benefiting from its proximity to mainland China.

As a result, the Hong Kong government was able to roll out several Web3 innovations, including a licensing regime, spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s stablecoin sandbox and tokenized finance and AI integration.

In 2021, the HKMA unveiled a strategy to establish itself as a financial hub by 2025.

The strategy included encouraging fintech adoption among banks, increasing Hong Kong’s readiness in issuing central bank digital currencies at both wholesale and retail levels, enhancing the city’s existing data infrastructure and building new ones, increasing the supply of fintech talent and formulating supportive policies for the Hong Kong fintech ecosystem.

Magazine: Vitalik on AI apocalypse, LA Times both-sides KKK, LLM grooming: AI Eye

Politics

US Rep. Byron Donalds to introduce bill codifying Trump’s Bitcoin reserve

Published

2 hours ago

March 14, 2025

admin

US Rep. Byron Donalds to introduce bill codifying Trump’s Bitcoin reserve

A new bill set to be introduced in Congress aims to formalize President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, a move that could further integrate Bitcoin into the nation’s financial strategy.

Trump signed an executive order on March 7 to use Bitcoin (BTC) seized in government criminal cases to establish a national reserve.

The legislation, introduced by US Representative Byron Donalds, seeks to ensure the Bitcoin reserve becomes a permanent fixture, preventing future administrations from dismantling it through executive action.

“For years, the Democrats waged war on crypto,” Donalds, a Florida Republican, said in a statement to Bloomberg. “Now is the time for Congressional Republicans to decisively end this war.”

If the bill is passed, it would ensure that the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US Digital Asset Stockpile could not be eliminated via executive actions by a future administration.

The bill will require at least 60 votes in the Senate and a House majority to pass. With Republicans holding a Senate majority — and amid a generally more crypto-friendly environment — the bill has a chance of passing.

According to Bitcoinlaws data, at least 23 US states have introduced legislation supporting a Bitcoin reserve, reflecting growing state-level interest in integrating crypto into fiscal policy.

A “pivotal moment” for US crypto regulations

The introduction of the Bitcoin reserve-related bill marks a pivotal moment for the wider crypto industry, not just BTC.

The legislation “aims to cement the reserve as a permanent fixture, shielding it from reversal by future administrations,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.

The bill signals the US government’s intent to integrate Bitcoin into its financial framework, Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:

“It builds on Trump’s earlier executive action by providing a statutory backbone, potentially clarifying the government’s stance on digital assets. If passed, the bill could reduce uncertainty that has long plagued the crypto space, where agencies like the SEC and CFTC have often clashed over jurisdiction.”

“A codified reserve might encourage a more cohesive regulatory approach, offering businesses and investors a clearer path forward,” he added.

However, identifying the right funding mechanisms and custody solutions for the Bitcoin reserve is a challenging step for governmental entities that may delay the fund’s creation.

The bill may also provide more clarity on the government’s future Bitcoin acquisition strategies. Although the current plan does not involve government Bitcoin purchases, the order does not rule them out.

The order authorizes the US Treasury and Commerce secretaries to develop “budget-neutral strategies” to buy more Bitcoin for the reserve, provided there are no additional costs to taxpayers.