This is a remarkable step by the government – and Donald Trump, China and Reform UK have all played their part

Published

22 hours ago

April 11, 2025

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When the sun sets on Scunthorpe this Saturday, the town’s steelworks will likely have a new boss – Jonathan Reynolds.

The law that parliament will almost certainly approve this weekend hands the business secretary the powers to direct staff at British Steel, order raw materials and, crucially, keep the blast furnaces at the plant open.

This is not full nationalisation.

But it is an extraordinary step.

The Chinese firm Jingye will – on paper – remain the owner of British Steel.

But the UK state will insert itself into the corporate set-up to legally override the wishes of the multinational company.

A form of martial law invoked and applied to private enterprise.

That will come at a cost to the taxpayer.

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No number has been specified, but there are wages to pay and orders to make at a site estimated to already be losing £700,000 a day.

There is also clear frustration in government at how the Chinese owners have engaged in negotiations around modernising the Scunthorpe site.

“Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process”, said the business secretary in his department’s official announcement about the new laws.

Time is so tight because of the nature of the steel-making process.

Once switched off, blast furnaces are very hard to turn back on.

If this had happened in Scunthorpe – as seemed likely in a matter of days – then it would have been game over.

This move keeps the show on the road and opens up more time for talks over the long-term future of the plant.

While the official line in Whitehall is that “all options are on the table”, nationalisation seems increasingly likely.

That would need more legislation, if it was done – as seems likely – without the approval of the current owner.

Finding an alternative commercial partner has not been ruled out, but one is not waiting in the wings either.

As for what that long-term future looks like, with just five years of life left in the Scunthorpe blast furnaces, modernisation is inevitable.

Port Talbot’s plant saw its blast furnaces closed last year amid a switch to the more environmentally friendly electric arc furnaces and a loss of thousands of jobs.

Political figures in Wales are now questioning why nationalisation wasn’t on the table for this site.

The response from government is that the deal was done by the previous Tory administration and the owners of the South Wales site agreed to the terms.

But there is also a sense that this decision over British Steel is being shaped by the domestic and international political context.

Labour came to power promising to revitalise left-behind communities and inject a sense of pride back into places still reeling from the loss of traditional industry.

With that in mind, it would be politically intolerable to see the UK’s last two blast furnaces closed and thousands of jobs lost in a relatively deprived part of the country.

Reform UK’s position of pushing for full and immediate nationalisation is also relevant, given the party is in electoral pursuit of Labour in many parts of the country where decline in manufacturing has been felt most acutely.

The geo-political situation is perhaps more pressing though.

Just look at the strength of the prime minister’s language in his Downing Street address – “our economic and national security are all on the line”.

The government’s reaction to the turmoil caused by President Donald Trump’s pronouncements on tariffs and security has been to emphasise the need to increase domestic resilience in both business and defence.

Becoming the only G7 nation unable to produce virgin steel at a time when globalisation appears to be in retreat hardly fits with that narrative.

It would also present serious practical questions about the ability of the UK to produce steel for defence and the broader switch to green energy production.

Then there is the intriguing subplot around US-China trade.

While this decision is separate from discussions with the White House on tariffs, one can imagine how a UK move to wrestle control of a site of national importance from its Chinese owner might go down with a US president currently engaged in a fierce trade war with Beijing.

This is a remarkable step from the government, but it is more a punctuation mark than a full answer.

The tension between manufacturing and decarbonisation remains, as do the challenges presented by a global economy appearing to fragment significantly.

But one thing is for sure.

As a political parable about changes to traditional industry and the challenges of globalisation, the saga of British Steel is hard to beat.

Politics

Trump exempts select tech products from tariffs, crypto to benefit?

Published

1 hour ago

April 12, 2025

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Trump exempts select tech products from tariffs, crypto to benefit?

United States President Donald Trump has exempted an array of tech products including, smartphones, chips, computers, and select electronics from tariffs, giving the tech industry a much-needed respite from trade pressures.

According to the US Customs and Border Protection, storage cards, modems, diodes, semiconductors, and other electronics were also excluded from the ongoing trade tariffs.

“Large-cap technology companies will ultimately come out ahead when this is all said and done,” The Kobeissi letter wrote in an April 12 X post.

Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Price, Economics, Economy, United States, Donald Trump — *US Customs and Border Protection announces tariff exemptions on select tech products. Source:* *US Customs and Border Protection*

The tariff relief will take the pressure off of tech stocks, which were one of the biggest casualties of the trade war. Crypto markets are correlated with tech stocks and could also rally as risk appetite increases on positive trade war headlines.

Following news of the tariff exemptions, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) broke past $85,000 on April 12, a signal that crypto markets are already responding to the latest macroeconomic development.

Markets hinge on Trump’s every word during macroeconomic uncertainty

President Trump walked back the sweeping tariff policies on April 9 by initiating a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs and lowering tariff rates to 10% for countries that did not respond with counter-tariffs on US goods.

Bitcoin surged by 9% and the S&P 500 surged by over 10% on the same day that Trump issued the tariff pause.

Macroeconomic trader Raoul Pal said the tariff policies were a negotiation tool to establish a US-China trade deal and characterized the US administration’s trade rhetoric as “posturing.”

Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser argued that exempting select tech products from import tariffs would not reduce bond yields or further the Trump administration’s goal of lowering interest rates.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury Bond shot up to a local high of approximately 4.5% on April 11 as bond investors reacted to the macroeconomic uncertainty of a protracted trade war.

“The concession just given to China for tech exports won’t reverse the trend of rates going higher. Confidence in US bonds and the US Dollar has been eroding for years and won’t stop now,” Keiser wrote on April 12.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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Politics

Bitcoin still on track for $1.8M in 2035, says analyst

Published

8 hours ago

April 12, 2025

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Bitcoin still on track for .8M in 2035, says analyst

Bitcoin remains on track to surpass $1.8 million by 2035 despite recent price corrections and waning investor appetite caused by ongoing global trade tensions, according to Joe Burnett, director of market research at Unchained.

Speaking during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X, Burnett said that Bitcoin is still in a long-term bullish cycle and could potentially rival or surpass gold’s $21 trillion market capitalization within the next decade.

Despite tariff uncertainty limiting risk appetite among investors, research analysts remain optimistic about Bitcoin’s (BTC) long-term prospects for the next decade.

“When I think about where Bitcoin will be in 10 years, there are two models I admire,” Burnett said. “One is the parallel model, which suggests that Bitcoin will be about $1.8 million in 2035.” “The other is Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin 24 model, which suggests Bitcoin will be $2.1 million by 2035.”

Burnett emphasized that both are “good base cases,” adding that Bitcoin’s trajectory could exceed these predictions depending on broader macroeconomic factors.

🎙Could Bitcoin really hit $10m by Q1 2035? Perhaps.

But first, we need to unravel the tangled web of the markets this week, and for both discussions, @rkbaggs and @gazza_jenks are joined today by Joe Burnett (@IIICapital) on the #CHAINREACTION show! https://t.co/hfyEwGUCsh

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) April 11, 2025

Bitcoin outlook remains long-term bullish

“The automobile industry is significantly more valuable than the horse and buggy industry,” Burnett said, adding that Bitcoin’s more advanced technological properties will make it surpass the $21 trillion market capitalization of gold. He added:

“The gold market is an estimated $21 trillion market. If Bitcoin just hit $21 trillion and had Bitcoin-gold parity, Bitcoin would be $1 million per coin today.”

Since US President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, global markets have been under pressure due to heightened trade war fears. Hours after taking office, Trump threatened to impose sweeping import tariffs aimed at reducing the country’s trade deficit, weighing on risk sentiment across both equities and crypto.

While Bitcoin’s role as a safe-haven asset may reemerge amid ongoing trade war concerns, physical gold and tokenized gold remain the current winners.

Bitcoin still on track for $1.8M in 2035, says analyst — *Top tokenized gold assets, trading volume. Source: CoinGecko, Cex.io*

Tariff fears led tokenized gold trading volume to surge to a two-year high this week, topping $1 billion for the first time since the US banking crisis in 2023, Cointelegraph reported on April 10.

Strong hands hold during drawdowns

Bitcoin’s volatility is falling during both bear and bull markets, signaling its growing maturity as an asset class.

While another 80% drawdown during future bear markets is still possible, this will act as a robust acquisition period for the “strongest” holders, Burnett said, adding:

“The highs bring [Bitcoin] attention, and the deep, dark bear markets move coins into the hands of the strongest, most convicted holders, as fast as possible.”

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer at Maelstrom, predicted Bitcoin could climb to $250,000 by the end of 2025 if the US Federal Reserve formally enters a quantitative easing cycle.

Despite the optimistic predictions, investors remain cautious and continue “rebalancing their portfolios” but are unlikely to take on significant positions in the next 90 days before markets gain more clarity on global tariff negotiations, Enmanuel Cardozo, market analyst at real-world asset tokenization platform Brickken, told Cointelegraph.

“With money flowing out of Bitcoin ETFs, investors are looking for safer spots to hold their cash right now, including strong currencies. Gold’s a traditional vehicle in these cases and a go-to when markets are uncertain,” he added.

Since the beginning of 2025, the price of gold has risen over 23%, outperforming Bitcoin, which has fallen by more than 10% year-to-date, TradingView data shows.

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Politics

SEC and Binance push for another pause in lawsuit after ‘productive’ talks

Published

10 hours ago

April 12, 2025

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<div>SEC and Binance push for another pause in lawsuit after 'productive' talks</div>

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and crypto exchange Binance have asked a US federal judge for an additional two-month pause in their nearly two-year legal battle.

“Since the Court stayed this case, the Parties have been in productive discussions, including discussions concerning how the efforts of the crypto task force may impact the SEC’s claims,” both parties said in an April 11 joint status report with the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

SEC requests Binance to agree to the extension

According to the filing, the SEC requested and Binance agreed to another 60-day extension as the regulator continues to seek permission to “approve any resolution or changes to the scope of this litigation.”

“The Defendants agreed that continuing the stay is appropriate and in the interest of judicial economy,” the filing said.

The request comes not long after the SEC dropped a string of crypto-related lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini, as well as Robinhood and Consenys.

At the end of the 60-day period, the SEC and Binance plan to submit another joint status report. This marks the second 60-day pause the SEC and Binance have requested this year, following a previous extension granted by the judge on Feb. 11.

SEC, United States, Binance — *The recently launched crypto task force was a key reason behind the request for the second extension. Source:* *CourtListener*

The request in February came just days after crypto skeptic Gary Gensler stepped down as SEC chair on Jan. 20, with crypto-friendly SEC commissioner Mark Uyeda taking over as acting chair.

At the time, the SEC and Binance also cited the establishment of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force as a reason for the pause.

Formed just a day after Gensler resigned on Jan. 21, the task force said it aims to “help the Commission draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.”

The SEC’s legal battle with Binance has dragged on for almost two years. It began in June 2023 when the agency filed a lawsuit against Binance, its US platform, and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.

The US regulator pressed 13 charges against Binance, including unregistered offers and sales of the BNB and Binance USD tokens, the Simple Earn and BNB Vault products, and its staking program.

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