Starmer enjoys reset moment after difficult 100 days – but big test lies ahead

Published

6 months ago

October 14, 2024

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It was billed as a “big moment” for the Starmer administration and, arriving at Labour’s International Investment Summit, it was clear how seriously the government was taking it

The venue was the spectacular 15th century Guildhall in the heart of the City of London, where 200 leading executives gathered with the UK’s prime minister, cabinet, first ministers and mayors to talk about investment in the UK.

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Adjoa Andoh, who plays Lady Danbury in Netflix’s wildly successful Bridgerton, was the day’s host, with the one-day summit to be capped off by a glittering reception in St Paul’s Cathedral hosted by King Charles, a three Michelin star meal and a performance by Sir Elton John.

Sir Keir Starmer depicted this summit as a key moment in reviving Britain’s global standing in the world as he promised investors he would “do everything in power to galvanise growth”.

He promised investors an end to “the culture of chop and change” with “mission-led mindset that thinks in years”, a new industrial strategy, and pledged to “rip up the bureaucracy that blocks investment” to make sure Britain’s regulators are geared for growth.

“We will make sure that every regulator in this country… takes growth as seriously as this room does,” he said.

After a difficult first 100 days beset by infighting in the prime minister’s Downing Street and rows over freebies, the Starmer team wanted to make day 101 of this Labour government a moment to reset and get back to the business of the the PM’s first mission – economic growth.

And while Sir Keir didn’t make any specific reference to his first 100 days in his speech to investors, there was a nod to the frustration I’m told he had been feeling in recent weeks, as he sought to inject some momentum into his new government.

He said: “We know – just as every leader knows, that those early weeks and months are precious,

“And no matter how many people advise you to ignore it, you must run towards the fire to put it out, not let it spread further. So we will fix our public services. We will stabilise our economy and we will do it quickly.”

Ripping up bureaucracy to create “shock and awe” investment.

It is not necessarily what you’d expect to hear from a government. Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, who joined Keir Starmer in conversation after the PM’s speech, told the audience of business executives he was “shocked when I heard Labour was in favour of growth,” before going on to say there was “plenty of money that’s going to come into the country” if the government could tackle regulation.

But he also warned the prime minister he would not be able to achieve his goal of clean energy in 2030 without dealing with regulation.

No 10 insiders tell me that the task in the coming months is to “rewire” each regulator – digital, water, energy, competition – for the next decade, with one figure telling me “cutting red tape is about making sure the UK regime doesn’t look too severe, especially relative to our size and influence on global markets”.

One Whitehall official offers up an example of the Competition and Markets Authority which investigated a tie-up between Amazon and an AI company, Anthropic, despite the latter having no business in the UK, which only served to make the UK look anti-tech (the investigation has since been dropped).

For Treasury insiders, the £60bn of investment into new shovel-ready projects announced alongside the investment summit is a significant boon after a difficult few weeks.

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“We’ve beaten expectations,” says one government figure, pointedly remarking that the Conservative government’s investment summit last year raised £28bn.

“Politics is like a see-saw. When you’re down, you can’t do anything right, but when you’re up, you can’t do anything wrong. This was also the conception. To have a summit in the first 100 days of the government where we were banging the drum beat for Britain.”

There will be questions over how Labour can square off the growth plan with Sir Keir’s raft of new workers’ rights – something that the PM tackled head-on in this speech when he told the audience that “workers with more security in work, higher wages, is a better growth model for this country”.

There are also questions about whether the big growth sale made to 200 chief executives, representing an astonishing £40trn of assets, will jar when the budget comes around on 30 October.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has insisted it will be a growth budget, but there are growing expectations Labour will raise billions of pounds in business taxes by including employer pension contributions in the national insurance system.

The chancellor could raise £18bn a year by the end of 2030 if she levies a flat 13.8% rate on pension contributions, according to research by the Resolution Foundation thinktank.

One Treasury figure said it wasn’t true that investors were “trapped in a cycle of only caring about a budget. They want a government with a sense of stability and purpose. That’s about tax and spend, but it’s also: regulations and barriers matter, planning reform matters, stable government and a big majority, which is what Labour has, matters.”

This Investment summit, long in the making, has taken on new significance for a Starmer government in search of a fresh start after a difficult first 100 days.

Ministers will arrive at St Paul’s this evening feeling that they, at last, have something to celebrate.

The next big test will be the budget later this month, but the much bigger task is to turn the promises made on the stage into a framework that unlocks billions more than the down-payment from business promised today.

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SEC and Gemini ask to pause lawsuit to explore ‘potential resolution’

Published

3 hours ago

April 2, 2025

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SEC and Gemini ask to pause lawsuit to explore ‘potential resolution’

The US Securities and Exchange Commission and crypto exchange Gemini have asked to pause the regulator’s suit over the exchange’s Gemini Earn program, saying they want to discuss a potential resolution.

In an April 1 letter to New York federal court judge Edgardo Ramos, lawyers representing the SEC and Genesis requested a 60-day hold on the case and that all deadlines be pulled “to allow the parties to explore a potential resolution.”

“In this case, the parties submit that it is in each of their interests to stay this matter while they consider a potential resolution and agree that no party or non-party would be prejudiced by a stay,” the letter states.

The lawyers added that a stay was in the court’s interest as “a resolution would conserve judicial resources” and proposed that a joint status report be submitted within 60 days after the entry of the stay.

The SEC sued Gemini and crypto lending firm Genesis Global Capital in January 2023, alleging they offered unregistered securities through the Gemini Earn program.

In March 2024, Genesis agreed to pay $21 million to settle charges related to the lending program, but the enforcement case against Gemini remains outstanding.

The letter did not specify what a possible resolution would entail, but the SEC has dropped several lawsuits it launched against crypto companies under the Biden administration, including against Coinbase, Ripple and Kraken.

In February, Gemini said the SEC closed a separate investigation into the firm as the regulator winds back its crypto enforcement under President Donald Trump.

“The SEC cost us tens of millions of dollars in legal bills alone and hundreds of millions in lost productivity, creativity, and innovation. Of course, Gemini is not alone,” Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss said at the time.

OpenSea, Crypto.com and Uniswap, among others, have also recently reported that the SEC had closed similar probes into their companies that were investigating alleged breaches of securities laws.

Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23 – 29

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Crypto PAC-backed Republicans win US House seats in Florida special elections

Published

3 hours ago

April 2, 2025

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Crypto PAC-backed Republicans win US House seats in Florida special elections

Two Republicans who received a combined $1.5 million from the crypto-backed political action committee (PAC) Fairshake will enter the US House after winning special elections in Florida.

Republican Jimmy Patronis won the vacant seat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District to replace Matt Gaetz, taking 57% of the vote to defeat Democrat Gay Valimont, according to AP News data.

Randy Fine also took Florida’s 6th Congressional District with 56.7% of the vote to beat his Democratic rival, public school teacher Josh Weil, and fill a seat left vacant by Mike Waltz, who took a job as White House national security adviser.

Florida’s 1st and 6th Congressional Districts — located in Florida’s western panhandle and along the state’s northeast coast — have been controlled by Republicans for roughly 30 years, but their lead has narrowed in recent years.

Fairshake, a PAC backed by crypto industry giants including Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, gave Fine around $1.16 million in advertising spending and funneled $347,000 to Patronis to support his campaign.

Both Republicans have expressed support for the crypto industry, with Fine stating in a Jan. 14 X post that “Floridians want crypto innovation!”

Fairshake and its affiliates poured around $170 million into the 2024 US presidential and congressional elections to back candidates who committed to supporting the crypto industry.

The wins by Patronis and Fine increased Republican representation in the House to 220 seats, with the Democrats holding 213 seats.

There are two vacant seats to be filled after Texas and Arizona Democrats Sylvester Turner and Raúl Grijalva died on March 5 and March 13, respectively.

Florida can expect to see a crypto-friendly regulatory environment

The victories for Patronis and Fine likely mean that crypto legislation will continue to see support in the US capital.

The Republican Party would have maintained its House majority even if it lost both seats in Florida, but it would have made it more difficult for some of the recently introduced Republican-backed crypto bills to pass through the House and Senate.

At the Digital Assets Summit on March 18, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna said he believes Congress “should be able to get” both a stablecoin and crypto market structure bill done this year.

Bills that could eventually make their way to the House include the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which passed the Senate Banking Committee in an 18-6 vote on March 13.

Senator Cynthia Lummis also reintroduced a Bitcoin reserve bill about a week after the Trump administration announced the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on March 6, with the legislation referred to the Senate Banking Committee on March 11.

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UK trade bodies ask government to make crypto a ‘strategic priority’

Published

5 hours ago

April 2, 2025

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UK trade bodies ask government to make crypto a ‘strategic priority’

Several British trade associations have asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office to appoint a special envoy dedicated to crypto and for a dedicated action plan for digital assets and blockchain technology.

In a March 31 letter, the coalition of six UK digital economy trade bodies urged Starmer’s special adviser on business and investment, Varun Chandra, for a “greater strategic focus and alignment to deliver investment, growth and jobs” for the crypto industry.

The group, which consisted of the UK Cryptoasset Business Council, Global Digital Finance, The Payments Association, Digital Currencies Governance Group, the Crypto Council for Innovation and techUK, noted the US policy shift on crypto under President Donald Trump and his appointment of a crypto czar.

Britain’s commitment to an economic trade deal focused on technological cooperation with the US “presents a significant opportunity to mirror the United States’ ambition in fostering leadership in blockchain, digital assets, and other emerging financial technologies,” the letter stated.

The group recommended that the UK appoint a blockchain special envoy, similar to the US, to coordinate policy, foster innovation, and position the country competitively in global markets.

The trade bodies also called for the development of a dedicated government action plan for crypto and blockchain technology, including a concierge service to attract high-potential firms.

They added that the government should acknowledge and leverage the commonalities between blockchain, quantum computing and artificial intelligence technologies, including potential applications for government services.

Another recommendation was to create a high-level industry-government-regulator engagement forum to ensure informed decision-making and cross-sector collaboration.

“With deep pools of talent, access to capital, world-class academic institutions, and sophisticated regulators, the UK provides an environment where digital assets and blockchain innovation can thrive,” they stated.

The coalition argues that crypto and blockchain technology could boost the UK economy by 57 billion British pounds ($73.6 billion) over the next decade, with the sector potentially increasing global gross domestic product by 1.39 trillion pounds ($1.8 trillion) by 2030.

Tom Griffiths, the co-founder and managing partner of crypto compliance advisory firm BitCompli, said in response to the letter on LinkedIn that the Financial Conduct Authority “has a lot of talent and a good sight of future plans, but the UK is definitely losing pace with Dubai, Singapore, and other EU jurisdictions.”

“Now is the time for the FCA to act, or the UK will lose out on this huge opportunity, which is digital assets and all the benefits this sector can bring, not only now but over the next 20 years,” he added.

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