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Women in their 30s are on average £4,000 a year worse off than they were in 2010, new figures show.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows the median full-time salary for those aged 30 to 39 has dropped from £37,899 in April 2010 to £33,740 in April 2023 – leaving them, on average, £4,159 a year and £350 a month worse off in real terms.

The calculation was made using the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation, which tracks the average change in prices paid by consumers over a period of time for a basket of goods and services.

The Labour Party blamed the figures on “stagnant wages, low growth and a lack of interest in supporting women staying in, or re-entering, the workforce”.

Shadow women and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds said: “The Conservatives crashed the economy and lumped working women with the bill.”

She added: “Many women in their 30s are trying to get on the property ladder, get on at work and raise young children.

“But for too many the reality is a struggle to make ends meet, often worrying about the next bill, unable to work because of extortionate childcare or jobs that are too inflexible.”

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Anneliese Dodds
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Anneliese Dodds

The party also provided analysis from the House of Commons Library which showed that women in London across all age groups were over £4,300 a year worse off.

In the South East, and Yorkshire and the Humber, they were over £2,000 a year worse off.

The release of the figures coincides with the week of Equal Pay Day, which the Fawcett Society says marks the time in the calendar year when women start to work for free because of the pay lag on male earnings.

Read more:
Parents say childcare costs forcing them out of work
Iceland’s PM joins women on strike over equal pay

ONS figures earlier this month showed that the gender pay gap increased across all age groups between 2022 and 2023, except for 18 to 21-year-olds, where it decreased from 1.1% to negative 0.2%.

The largest increase was seen among employees aged 30 to 39 years, where the gender pay gap increased from 2.3% to 4.7%, which the ONS said was the highest value of the gender pay gap for this age group since 2009.

The body said that the gender pay gap stood at 7.7% in April this year, despite the fact it has been declining slowly over time.

Conservative Minister for Women Maria Caulfield said: “Labour cannot be trusted to support women’s livelihoods – the number of unemployed women rose by 25 per cent when they were last in office.

“On the other hand, we have supported millions more women into work, helped record numbers of women entrepreneurs set up businesses, and made significant progress in slashing the gender pay gap.

“We are going further than ever before in reforming childcare to support parents in the workplace, and as set out in the autumn statement this week, we are helping more women keep more of their hard-earned money with the biggest package of tax cuts since the 1980s.

“We are ensuring that women have the opportunity to build brighter, more secure lives for themselves and their families. Labour’s £28bn borrowing plan would fuel inflation and inevitably result in tax rises for households across the country.”

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Ukraine floats 23% tax on some crypto income, exemptions for stablecoins

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Ukraine floats 23% tax on some crypto income, exemptions for stablecoins

Ukraine floats 23% tax on some crypto income, exemptions for stablecoins

Ukraine’s financial regulator has proposed taxing certain crypto transactions as personal income at a rate of up to 23% but excluding crypto-to-crypto transactions and stablecoins.  

Crypto transactions would be taxed at 18% with a 5% military levy on top as part of the proposed framework, released on April 8 by Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission. 

NSSMC Chairman Ruslan Magomedov said in an April 8 statement that “the issue of crypto taxes is not a hypothesis, but a reality that is fast approaching.” 

He added that the agency created the framework to help lawmakers make an “informed resolution” by considering each suggestion’s advantages and disadvantages because “these aspects can have a critical impact on the market and tax liability.”

Under the NSSMC’s proposed crypto framework, a tax will be applied when crypto is cashed out for fiat currency or exchanged for goods or services. 

Crypto-to-crypto transactions wouldn’t be taxed, bringing Ukraine in line with other European countries, including Austria and France, as well as crypto-friendly jurisdictions like Singapore, the NSSMC said. 

The regulator says it “makes sense” to exclude stablecoins backed by foreign currencies or only apply a 5% or 9% tax because Ukraine’s tax code already excludes income from transactions in “foreign exchange values.” 

Ukraine floats 23% tax on some crypto income, exemptions for stablecoins

A translated excerpt of the NSSMC’s report said stablecoins backed by foreign currencies could be exempt from taxation. Source: NSSMC

Mining, staking, hard forks and airdrops 

Other crypto-related activities, such as mining, staking and airdrops, are also addressed in the framework which floated a few options for taxation. 

The NSSMC said crypto mining is generally considered a business activity, but there might be a general tax-free limit for certain crypto transactions, including mining. 

Under the framework, staking could be considered as “business captive income” or only taxed if the crypto is cashed out for fiat currencies. While hard forks and airdrops could be taxed either as ordinary income or when the tokens are cashed. 

Related: Ukraine officials get training on crypto and virtual assets investigation

The regulator suggests a tax-free threshold could help “relieve the burden on small investors” and is common in other jurisdictions. 

Exemptions for donations, transfers between family members, and holders who keep their crypto for a set amount of time are also flagged as possibilities. However, the NSSMC says the exemption might not apply to non-custodial crypto wallets

Last December, Daniil Getmantsev, head of the tax committee of Ukraine’s parliament, said a draft bill to legalize cryptocurrencies was under review and expected to be finalized early this year. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first signed a law establishing a legal framework for the country to operate a regulated crypto market in March 2022. 

Magazine: New ‘MemeStrategy’ Bitcoin firm by 9GAG, jailed CEO’s $3.5M bonus: Asia Express

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21Shares files for spot Dogecoin ETF in the US

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21Shares files for spot Dogecoin ETF in the US

21Shares files for spot Dogecoin ETF in the US

Digital asset manager 21Shares has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a spot Dogecoin exchange-traded fund, following similar filings from rivals Bitwise and Grayscale.

The 21Shares Dogecoin ETF would seek to track the price of the memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE), according to the firm’s April 9 Form S-1 registration statement. The Dogecoin Foundation’s corporate arm, House of Doge, plans to assist 21Shares with marketing the fund.

21Shares said Coinbase Custody would be the proposed custodian of its Dogecoin ETF but did not specify a fee, ticker or what stock exchange it would list on.

21Shares files for spot Dogecoin ETF in the US

Source: James Seyffart

21Shares must also file a 19b-4 filing with the SEC to kickstart the regulator’s approval process for the fund. 

DOGE currently has a $24.2 billion market cap and is the eighth-largest cryptocurrency by value. It was created in 2013 as a joke and is a fork of Lucky Coin, which itself is a fork of Bitcoin.

21Shares’ proposed Dogecoin ETF is the company’s latest effort to expand its spot crypto ETF offerings, which currently includes only a spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) fund.

The issuer also filed with the SEC in February to launch a spot Polkadot (DOT) ETF and last year, it filed to create a spot XRP (XRP) ETF.

Related: Dogecoin millionaires are buying dips as DOGE price eyes 30% rally

The recent surge in crypto ETF filings reflects a “spaghetti cannon approach” from issuers testing which products the new SEC leadership might approve, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said in February.

“Issuers will try to launch many many different things and see what sticks,” Seyffart said.

Seyffart and fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said in February that there is a 75% chance that the SEC will approve a spot Dogecoin ETF this year, while the betting platform Polymarket currently gives approval odds of 64%.

21Shares and House of Doge partner for DOGE funds in Switzerland

21Shares also said on April 9 that it partnered with House of Doge to launch a fully backed Dogecoin exchange-traded product on Switzerland’s SIX Swiss Exchange.

The 21Shares Dogecoin product will trade under the ticker “DOGE” with a 2.5% fee.

21Shares president Duncan Moir said that Dogecoin “has become more than a cryptocurrency: it represents a cultural and financial movement that continues to drive mainstream adoption, and DOGE offers investors a regulated avenue to be part of this exciting project.”

Magazine: Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging research

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US Senate confirms Paul Atkins to lead SEC under Trump

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US Senate confirms Paul Atkins to lead SEC under Trump

US Senate confirms Paul Atkins to lead SEC under Trump

Update April 10 at 1:41am UTC: This article has been updated to include more background on Paul Atkins before becoming SEC chair.

The US Senate has confirmed US President Donald Trump’s nominee, Paul Atkins, as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission in a 51-45 vote largely along party lines.

Atkins’ confirmation on April 9 comes after Trump named the pro-crypto former Wall Street consultant to lead the agency late last year. Atkins also served as an SEC commissioner between 2002 and 2008, during the global financial crisis.

”A veteran of our Commission, we look forward to him joining with us, along with our dedicated staff, to fulfill our mission on behalf of the investing public,” the agency’s commissioners wrote in an April 9 statement.

Atkins founded financial consulting firm Patomak Global Partners in 2009, specializing in regulatory compliance and risk management, and served as co-chair of crypto advocacy group Token Alliance between 2017 and late 2024.

After he’s sworn in, Atkins will take over from Mark Uyeda, who has been the SEC’s acting chair since Jan. 20, after former chair Gary Gensler stepped down. Gensler’s tenure saw the SEC launch multiple lawsuits and investigations against crypto firms over alleged breaches of securities laws.

US Senate confirms Paul Atkins to lead SEC under Trump

Source: Cynthia Lummis

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott expressed confidence that Atkins would continue the SEC’s crypto-friendly approach that it has taken under the Trump administration.

“Atkins will also provide regulatory clarity for digital assets, allowing American innovation to flourish, and ensuring we remain competitive on the global stage.”

Under Trump, the SEC created a Crypto Task Force to consult with the industry on regulation and dropped several crypto-related investigations and enforcement actions undertaken by the Gensler-led SEC.

Atkins is expected to take a different approach, telling a Senate confirmation hearing in March that a top priority of his at the SEC would be “to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a rational, coherent, and principled approach.”

Atkins’ confirmation delayed by disclosures

Atkins’ confirmation was reportedly delayed due to several financial disclosures he needed to file as a result of marrying into a billionaire family.

Related: No crypto project has registered with the SEC and ‘lived to tell the tale’ — House committee hearing

He married Sarah Humphreys Atkins in 1990 — whose family is tied to TAMKO Building Products LLC, a manufacturer of residential roofing shingles that turned over $1.2 billion in revenue in 2023, Forbes reported in December. The couple have a reported combined net worth of at least $327 million.

Some of those financial disclosures revealed that Atkins owned up to $6 million worth of crypto-related investments, including crypto custody platform Anchorage Digital and blockchain tokenization platform Securitize, Fortune reported last month.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

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