Assisted dying in doubt as rollout could be delayed until at least 2029

Published

3 days ago

March 26, 2025

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Assisted dying may not available in England and Wales until at least 2029 after MPs approved an extension of the rollout period.

An initial two-year “backstop” will now increase to four years after the change was proposed by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Ms Leadbeater said she was disappointed to propose the extension and acknowledged the “upset” felt by some supporters of the bill, but said it was “more important to do this properly than to do it quickly”.

The four-year delay, passed by the committee scrutinising the legislation, now means the law is unlikely to be operational until at least 2029 – the year by which the next general election must take place.

After the vote in the early hours of Wednesday, Ms Leadbeater said the bill will come back to the Commons in a “safer, fairer, and more workable” form.

MPs on the committee also voted for assisted dying to be available free on the NHS.

One MP said the extension of the backstop risked the bill being abandoned.

Tom Gordon, a Liberal Democrat MP, told The Guardian that “delaying implementation risks pushing it beyond the next election, where it could be abandoned altogether”.

“We have thoroughly scrutinised and strengthened this bill, ensuring it is safe and robust. Every extra year means more unnecessary suffering for those who cannot afford to wait,” Mr Gordon said.

The charity Humanists UK, which backs the assisted dying bill, said it regretted the delay.

Its chief executive Andrew Copson said: “Many other countries already have safe assisted dying laws and none of them has taken more than 19 months to implement them, apart from one that was subject to a court challenge.

“So it really shouldn’t have to take four years for the one here. If it does, people who need this change in law will continue to die in ways not of their choosing.”

But Conservative MP Danny Kruger argued that the bill was a fundamental change to the founding principles of the NHS, which he said would become the “national health and assisted suicide service”.

The overnight vote marks the end of two months of committee scrutiny, and the bill is likely to return for a debate and vote by all MPs in the coming months.

Opponents of the bill have warned that people could be put under pressure to end their lives.

But supporters have said the law will allow people suffering with difficult illnesses the choice over when to end their lives.

Last month, Ms Leadbeater removed a key safeguard that said every assisted dying case must be scrutinised by a High Court justice.

Citing concerns this could overwhelm the court system, Ms Leadbeater instead proposed that cases will be reviewed by panels including a senior lawyer, a psychiatrist, and a social worker.

The bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales who are expected to die within six months to request assistance from a doctor to end their life.

MPs initially voted in support of the bill in November, with 330 MPs supporting it and 275 rejecting it.

Meanwhile, the Isle of Man’s parliament became the first part of the British Isles to pass assisted dying legislation.

Its assisted dying bill will be sent for royal assent, having had its final reading by members of the legislative council on Tuesday.

The bill, for adults resident on the island for five years who have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of no more than 12 months, could formally become law later this year with an assisted dying service potentially in place by 2027.

Politics

Bitcoin adoption in EU limited by ‘fragmented’ regulations — Analysts

Published

4 hours ago

March 29, 2025

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Bitcoin adoption in EU limited by ‘fragmented’ regulations — Analysts

Institutional adoption of Bitcoin in the European Union remains sluggish, even as the United States moves forward with landmark cryptocurrency regulations that seek to establish BTC as a national reserve asset.

More than three weeks after President Donald Trump’s March 7 executive order outlined plans to use cryptocurrency seized in criminal cases to create a federal Bitcoin (BTC) reserve, European companies have largely remained silent on the issue.

The stagnation may stem from Europe’s complex regulatory regime, according to Elisenda Fabrega, general counsel at Brickken, a European real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform.

“European corporate adoption remains limited,” Fabrega told Cointelegraph, adding:

“This hesitation reflects a deeper structural divide, rooted in regulation, institutional signaling and market maturity. Europe has yet to take a definitive stance on Bitcoin as a reserve asset.”

Bitcoin’s economic model favors early adopters, which may pressure more investment firms to consider gaining exposure to BTC. The asset has outperformed most major global assets since Trump’s election despite a recent correction.

Despite Trump’s executive order, only a small number of European companies have publicly disclosed Bitcoin holdings or crypto services. These include French banking giant BNP Paribas, Swiss firm 21Shares AG, VanEck Europe, Malta-based Jacobi Asset Management and Austrian fintech firm Bitpanda.

A recent Bitpanda survey suggests that European financial institutions may be underestimating crypto investor demand by as much as 30%.

Europe’s “fragmented” regulatory landscape lacks clarity

The EU’s slower adoption appears tied to its patchwork of regulations and more conservative investment mandates, analysts at Bitfinex told Cointelegraph. “Europe’s institutional landscape is more fragmented, with regulatory hurdles and conservative investment mandates limiting Bitcoin allocations.”

“Additionally, European pension funds and large asset managers have been slower to adopt Bitcoin exposure due to unclear guidelines and risk aversion,” they added.

Beyond the fragmented regulations, European retail investor appetite and retail participation are generally lower than in the US, according to Iliya Kalchev, dispatch analyst at digital asset investment platform Nexo.

Europe is “generally more conservative in adopting new financial instruments,” the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:

“This stands in stark contrast to the deep, liquid, and relatively unified US capital market, where the spot Bitcoin ETF rollout was buoyed by strong retail demand and a clear regulatory green light.”

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched a Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) in Europe on March 25, a development that may boost institutional confidence among European investors.

Magazine: Bitcoiner sex trap extortion? BTS firm’s blockchain disaster: Asia Express

Politics

NAYG lawsuit against Galaxy was ‘lawfare, pure and simple’ — Scaramucci

Published

9 hours ago

March 29, 2025

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<div>NAYG lawsuit against Galaxy was ‘lawfare, pure and simple' — Scaramucci</div>

The New York State Attorney General’s (NAYG) recent legal action against Galaxy Digital over its promotional ties to the now-collapsed cryptocurrency Terra (LUNA) was unfair and an abuse of the legal system, says SkyBridge Capital and founder Anthony Scaramucci.

“It’s LAWFARE, pure and simple due to an obscure but dangerously powerful New York law known as the Martin Act,” Scaramucci said in a March 28 X post.

Martin Law can “open the door for abuse”

“The law has no need to prove intent, creating a low standard of proof that can open the door for abuse like this. It shouldn’t exist,” he said.

New York’s Martin Act is one of the US’s strictest anti-fraud and securities laws, allowing prosecutors the power to pursue financial fraud cases without needing to prove intent. The NAYG alleged that Galaxy Digital violated the Martin Act over its alleged promotion of Terra, with Galaxy Digital agreeing to a $200 million settlement.

According to NAYG documents filed on March 24, Galaxy Digital acquired 18.5 million LUNA tokens at a 30% discount in October 2020, then promoted them before selling them without abiding by disclosure rules.

Scaramucci reiterated that Galaxy CEO Michael Novogratz was under the impression everything he was saying about Luna was true, as he had been deceived by Terraform Labs and its former CEO, Do Kwon.

Law, New York, United States, Terra — *Source:* *Amanda Fischer*

Meanwhile, MoonPay president of enterprise, Keith Grossman, said he had never heard of the Martin Act and had to look it up using AI chatbot ChatGPT.

“It is so broad and essentially is the essence of lawfare,” Grossman said. “Sorry you got caught in the crosshairs of it, Mike,” he added.

The filing alleged that Galaxy helped a “little-known” token, referring to LUNA, increase its market price from $0.31 in October 2020 to $119.18 in April 2022 while “profiting in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Asset manager and investor Anthony Pompliano said he isn’t familiar with the details of the lawsuit but vouched for Novogratz, calling him a “good man” who has devoted a lot of time and money to helping others.

The Terra collapse is one of the crypto industry’s most infamous failures. In March 2024, SEC attorney Devon Staren said in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that Terra was a “house of cards” that collapsed for investors in 2022.

Magazine: Arbitrum co-founder skeptical of move to based and native rollups: Steven Goldfeder

Politics

Elon Musk’s sale of X to xAI just made fraud lawsuit a ‘lot spicer’

Published

17 hours ago

March 29, 2025

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Elon Musk’s sale of X to xAI just made fraud lawsuit a ‘lot spicer’

Billionaire investor Elon Musk has sold his social media platform X to his AI startup xAI, sparking controversy as it coincides with a US judge rejecting his bid to dismiss a lawsuit tied to the social media platform.

The transfer of ownership of X to xAI on March 28 means that the class-action lawsuit against Musk — accusing him of defrauding former Twitter shareholders by delaying the disclosure of his initial investment in the social media platform — has become “a whole lot spicer,” Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran said in a March 28 X post.

Acquisition may open up xAI to more ‘exposure’

On the same day that Musk said “xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction,” a US judge reportedly rejected Musk’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit. Cochran said it has “opened up his AI entity to exposure here too, and it’s a much bigger pie.”

Musk said the deal values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, factoring in $12 billion in debt from the $45 billion valuation. He originally bought X, formerly Twitter, for around $44 billion in April 2022.

“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent,” Musk said.

“This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach,” he said, adding:

“This will allow us to build a platform that doesn’t just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress.”

However, Cochran claimed that “Musk used his pumped up xAI stock to pay multiple times over value for X, but still take an $11B loss on the transaction.” He said that Musk is “screwing over xAI investors, and X investors” and was executed to sell user data to xAI.

xAI is best known for its AI chatbot “Grok” which is built into the X platform. When Musk released it in November 2023, he claimed it could outperform OpenAI’s first iteration of ChatGPT in several academic tests.

Musk explained at the time that the motivation behind building Grok is to create AI tools equipped to assist humanity by empowering research and innovation.

While Cochran said that Grok being valued at $80 billion is an “insanely dumb valuation,” crypto developer “Keef” disagrees. Keef said, “This is shady all around, but given the day, Grok is genuinely probably the top model for various tasks.”

Magazine: Arbitrum co-founder skeptical of move to based and native rollups: Steven Goldfeder