Plaid Cymru ‘ready to form’ next government in Wales, says leader Rhun ap Iorwerth
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has said his party is “ready to form a government” in Wales.
But asked by Sky News whether a vote for Plaid Cymru meant a vote for Welsh independence, the Plaid leader refused to be drawn.
It comes as a new poll published on Tuesday put the Welsh nationalists as the largest party in Wales, with 30% of the vote share.
Wednesday marks exactly a year until the next Senedd election, when voters in Wales will elect 96 members for the first time – an increase of more than 50% from the current 60.
While Plaid has previously been a coalition party in government, the party has never formed the biggest group in the Senedd (Welsh parliament).
But the latest YouGov poll for ITV Cymru Wales and Cardiff University put them ahead of Reform UK in second place with 25% of the vote, Labour in third with 18% and the Conservatives in fourth with 13%.
On Tuesday, Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan called for a review of the cuts to winter fuel allowance – but Downing Street has refused to change tack.
Plaid Cymru supporters gathered outside the Senedd on Wednesday
Speaking alongside supporters outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, Mr ap Iorwerth said his party was “ready to govern” and that the “hard work” had now begun.
“People know that Plaid Cymru is the only credible pro-Wales government that they can choose to offer us a fresh start as a nation next year,” he added.
Speaking to Sky News after the campaign event, Mr ap Iorwerth said people were “yearning for a change”.
Rather than a vote for Welsh independence, “a vote for Plaid Cymru is a vote for a Plaid Cymru-led government here,” he said.
“On the future of Wales constitutionally, yes I believe in us taking control of our own future, but the key thing is, it’s up to the people of Wales where we go on that particular journey.”
Asked if a Plaid Cymru-led government would push for an independence referendum, Mr ap Iorwerth said: “Let’s deal with the issues that we have here in Wales, on health, on education, on creating a more prosperous economy, dealing with the scourge of child poverty.”
Last year, he told Sky News it was “not useful” to put a date on Welsh independence.
Read more from Sky News:
Teenagers to be allowed to drive trains to cut cancellations
Woman killed by alligator in Florida lake
Mr ap Iorwerth said his party had a “plan”, but also a “vision on where we can go as a country”.
“While I’m convinced that it’s by taking powers into our own hands that we build that brighter future, there are people who have different viewpoints,” he said.
“I want to bring people with us on that journey and create a new confidence in what we can be.”
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering rule changes to let companies more freely issue tokenized securities, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said in a speech published on May 8.
The regulator is “considering a potential exemptive order” for firms using blockchain technology to “issue, trade, and settle securities” that would release them from certain registration requirements, Peirce said in the speech.
For example, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) may no longer need to register “as a broker-dealer, clearing agency, or an exchange,” Peirce said. The SEC has previously brought numerous charges against DEXs such as Uniswap for failing to register as securities exchanges.
Firms should “not have to comply with inapt regulations, which, in many cases, were developed well before the technologies being tested existed and may be obviated by attributes of that technology,” Peirce said.
Under such an exemption, companies would still be expected to comply with rules designed to prevent fraud and market manipulation, the commissioner said. They may also need to meet certain disclosure and recordkeeping requirements.
Related: Nasdaq urges SEC to treat certain digital assets as ‘stocks by any other name’
Sharp policy pivot
The SEC has dramatically pivoted its stance on cryptocurrency oversight since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
Under the leadership of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the agency brought upward of 100 lawsuits against crypto firms for alleged securities law violations.
However, under Trump nominee Paul Atkins, who was sworn in as chair on April 21, the agency has claimed jurisdiction over a narrower segment of cryptocurrencies.
In February, the SEC issued guidance stating that memecoins — if clearly identified as purely speculative assets with no intrinsic value — do not qualify as investment contracts under US law.
In April, the regulator said that stablecoins — digital tokens pegged to the US dollar — similarly do not qualify as securities if they are marketed solely as a means of making payments.
Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race
Missouri House Bill 594, a bill that would eliminate capital gains tax in the US state, has passed a vote in the state House of Representatives and now heads to Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe’s desk for signature.
According to attorney Aaron Brogan, the bill stipulates a 100% income tax deduction for any capital gains income because the Missouri tax code does not explicitly distinguish between capital gains and income tax.
Brogan told Cointelegraph that the specific mechanism to exempt capital gains taxes outlined in HB 594 is unique and compared it to a similar income tax deduction in the federal tax code. The attorney explained:
“The most natural comparison is the state and local tax (SALT) deduction that the federal government offers — where the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) permits individuals to deduct a certain amount of tax paid in state and local taxes. This is the inverse, which I have never seen before.”
The bill’s timing is significant in that it follows proposals from US President Donald Trump to overhaul the country’s income tax system through comprehensive reform.
Related: US lawmaker targets crypto investors using Puerto Rico as a tax haven
Trump proposes eliminating federal income tax in the United States
Trump has proposed offsetting federal income taxes or eliminating the income tax and replacing the federal tax revenue with money raised through import tariffs.
“When Tariffs cut in, many people’s income taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated. The focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year,” the president wrote in an April 27 Truth Social post.
Trump added the plan will create more jobs in the United States as factories return to avoid import duties on their finished products.
Despite this, the market reaction to the tariffs has been overwhelmingly negative, with the stock market recording trillions of dollars in losses in response to tariff headlines and crypto markets shedding hundreds of billions in value.
Additionally, bond yields spiked following the tariff announcements — a sign that investors were rejecting US bonds, which are traditionally seen as a flight to safety.
Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky will probably be allowed to travel for his daughter’s wedding regardless of the outcome of his May 8 sentencing hearing.
In a May 8 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge John Koeltl approved an application for Mashinsky to travel from New York to Memphis, Tennessee, between May 26 and May 29 for his daughter’s wedding. The approval was available on the public docket as of May 8, but appeared to have been removed at the time of publication.
Judge Koeltl will determine in a May 8 hearing whether Mashinsky serves prison time following a plea deal with prosecutors.
The former Celsius CEO appeared ready to go to trial in 2024 until his lawyers lost a motion to have his charges dismissed. In December, He pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of the platform’s native token, CEL.
Related: Celsius’ Mashinsky lashes out at ‘death-in-prison sentence’
Mashinsky has been free on a $40-million bond since July 2023, with travel outside certain areas requiring court approval, such as the roughly 900-mile (1,500-kilometer) distance between New York and Memphis. At the time of publication, it was unclear if he will be expected to surrender to authorities.
Potentially facing decades in prison
Prosecutors have asked the judge to impose a 20-year sentence on the former Celsius CEO, while Mashinsky’s lawyers requested that he serve one year and one day in prison. The hearing could be a bellwether for how criminal cases involving cryptocurrency could change under the Trump administration, which appointed the interim US Attorney for the court district.
On April 17, Mashinsky’s lawyers submitted a letter from his oldest daughter in support of her father ahead of sentencing. The letter claims that Mashinsky does not deserve a “severe punishment,” writing that he “never set out to steal from anyone.” Other members of his family penned similar letters.
The same court district oversaw the sentencing of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving 25 years in prison.
Magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway