US Social Security moves public comms to X amid DOGE-led job cuts — Report

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2 days ago

April 12, 2025

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US Social Security moves public comms to X amid DOGE-led job cuts — Report

The US Social Security Administration (SSA) will move all public communications to the X social media platform amid sweeping workforce cuts recommended by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by X owner Elon Musk.

According to anonymous sources who spoke with WIRED, the government agency will no longer issue its customary letters and press releases to communicate changes to the public, instead relying on X as its primary form of public-facing communication.

The shift comes as the SSA downsizes its workforce from 57,000 employees to roughly 50,000 to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. The agency issued this statement in February 2025:

“SSA has operated with a regional structure consisting of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable. The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions. The organizational structure at Headquarters also is outdated and inefficient.”

Elon Musk, the head of DOGE, has accused the Social Security system of distributing billions of dollars in wrongful payments, a claim echoed by the White House. Musk’s comments sparked intense debate about the future of the retirement program and sustainable government spending.

US Government, United States, Elon Musk — *Source:* *Elon Musk*

DOGE targets US government agencies in efficiency push

The Department of Government Efficiency is an unofficial government agency tasked with identifying and curbing allegedly wasteful public spending through budget and personnel cuts.

In March, DOGE began probing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and gained access to its internal systems, including data repositories.

SEC officials signaled their cooperation with DOGE and said the regulatory agency would work closely with it to provide any relevant information requested.

DOGE also proposed slashing the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) workforce by 20%. The workforce reduction could impact up to 6,800 IRS employees and be implemented by May 15 — exactly one month after 2024 federal taxes are due.

Musk’s and the DOGE’s proposals for sweeping spending cuts are not limited to slashing budgets and reducing the size of the federal workforce.

DOGE is reportedly exploring blockchain to curb public spending by placing the entire government budget onchain to promote accountability and transparency.

Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle

Politics

Spot Solana ETFs to launch in Canada this week

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1 hour ago

April 14, 2025

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Spot Solana ETFs to launch in Canada this week

Spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are set to launch in Canada on April 16, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.

In an X post on April 14, the analyst shared a private client note from TD Bank, a Canadian financial institution, claiming the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) greenlighted asset managers Purpose, Evolve, CI and 3iQ to issue ETFs holding Solana (SOL).

The OSC did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Canada does not have a federal securities agency, with its territories and provinces applying their own securities laws. Toronto’s securities exchange is regulated by Ontario’s OSC.

The ETFs are permitted to stake a portion of the SOL holdings for added yield, Balchunas said, adding that the upcoming listings are “our first look at the alt coin race.”

Waiting on US approval

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged dozens of applications to list ETFs holding alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins,” but so far has only approved funds holding spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) for trading.

Staking is still off limits for US crypto ETFs. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said Ether ETFs could be greenlighted to start staking as soon as May, but the process may take months longer.

However, investors’ demand for altcoin ETFs may be weaker than for funds holding core cryptocurrencies, Katalin Tischhauser, crypto bank Sygnum’s research head, told Cointelegraph in August.

“[T]here is all this frothy excitement in the market about these ETFs coming, and no one can point to where substantial demand is going to come from,” Tischhauser told Cointelegraph.

In March, asset manager Volatility Shares launched the first ETFs to track Solana’s performance using financial derivatives.

Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) has seen a lukewarm reception, attracting only around $5 million in net assets as of April 14, according to its website.

“FWIW, the 2 solana ETFs in US (which track futures so not a perfect guinea pig) haven’t done much. Very little in aum. The 2x XRP already has more aum than both the solana ETFs and it came out after,” Balchunas said.

Balchunas added that he “[w]ouldn’t read a ton into it” as a predictor for spot SOL ETFs.

Magazine: Bitcoin eyes $100K by June, Shaq to settle NFT lawsuit, and more: Hodler’s Digest, April 6–12

Politics

Anchorage Digital faces scrutiny from US Homeland Security — Report

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2 hours ago

April 14, 2025

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Anchorage Digital faces scrutiny from US Homeland Security — Report

The US Department of Homeland Security’s El Dorado Task Force has reportedly launched an investigation into Anchorage Digital Bank, a Wall Street-backed cryptocurrency firm.

According to an April 14 Barron’s report, members of the task force have contacted former employees of the company over the past weeks to examine its practices and policies. Citing unidentified sources, the report claims the probe looks at potential financial crimes within Anchorage.

The reported Homeland task force probe hints at cross-national financial activities. Established in 1992, the El Dorado Task Force focuses on “transnational money laundering” activities and financial crimes carried out by organizations.

Anchorage is co-founded by Portuguese-American entrepreneur Diogo Mónica and Nathan McCauley, according to its website. Along with its US businesses, Anchorage has operations in Singapore and Portugal. Its investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs and Visa, among others.

Anchorage Digital is the only federally chartered crypto bank in the United States. It received its national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in January 2021.

Despite its advanced regulatory position, Anchorage Digital has faced regulatory challenges in the US. In April 2022, the OCC issued a consent order against the bank for deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering compliance programs. At the time, the company was ordered to establish a committee to address the alleged issues under the oversight of the OCC.

Cointelegraph reached out to Anchorage for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Anchorage’s crypto footprint

Anchorage was founded in 2017, and since then has been expanding its crypto footprint with services for institutional clients. The company is a custodian of BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) alongside Coinbase and BitGo. BlackRock’s BTC funds have attracted over $35.5 billion in cumulative inflows since its launch in January 2024.

Another of Anchorage’s clients is Cantor Fitzgerald. The company has offered custody and collateral management for Cantor’s Bitcoin holdings since March 2025. Anchorage reported over $50 billion in assets under management in 2024.

Among Anchorage’s custody competitors are players such as Ripple, Kraken, Taurus and Fireblocks, but the storage of digital assets has also attracted traditional financial institutions to the crypto field. HSBC, Citi and BNY Mellon — America’s oldest bank — are also competing to safeguard crypto assets for institutional clients.

According to Fireblocks’ Adam Levine, senior vice president of corporate development, the US market lacks qualified custodians for digital assets. “[…] there are limited options for certain market participants to keep their digital assets in safe keeping via a qualified custodian,” Levine told Cointelegraph in a previous interview.

A 2025 survey by EY reveals that 59% of institutional investors plan to allocate over 5% of their assets under management to cryptocurrencies, indicating a growing demand for institutional-grade custody services.

Banks, United States, Homeland Security, Investigation — *Institutional investors are expected to increase crypto allocations in 2025. Source:* EY

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

Politics

British Steel: Raw materials for Scunthorpe plant ‘paid for’ amid race against time to avert shutdown

Published

3 hours ago

April 14, 2025

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British Steel: Raw materials needed for Scunthorpe plant 'paid for' amid race against time to avert shutdown

The raw materials needed to keep British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant operating have been paid for, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has said – but she would not be drawn on when they would arrive.

Officials have been racing to obtain enough iron and coal to keep the furnaces at the UK’s last virgin steel-producing plant going – because if they cool down too much, the molten iron solidifies and blocks the furnaces.

It comes after ministers rushed through an emergency bill on Saturday to take over the facility after talks with Chinese owners Jingye broke down.

Politics latest: Chinese embassy urges UK to act with ‘fairness’ on British Steel

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the government had been prompted into action after learning that the firm had stopped ordering new raw materials to keep the plant running and planned on selling off supplies it already had.

Speaking to reporters from the site in Scunthorpe on Monday afternoon, Ms Rayner said: “We’ve got the raw materials, they’ve been paid for, and we’re confident that the furnaces will continue to fire.”

Asked whether the materials would be arriving on Monday, the deputy PM only said: “As I say, we’ve got the raw materials, and everything’s in place, and we’re confident that the furnaces will continue.”

Earlier, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray told Sky News the raw materials were “in the UK” and “nearby” the Lincolnshire site.

He said there were “limits to what I can say” because there were “commercial operations going on here”.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said there were two ships carrying materials docked at Immingham port in North Lincolnshire, with “a third ship which is currently en route off the coast of Africa, which will be making its way to the UK”.

Ministers have faced questions over why they are only just acting now, given unions warned earlier this month that Jingye decided to cancel future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.

Parliament was recalled on Saturday so that emergency legislation could be passed bringing the steelworks into effective government control and officials were on site as soon as the new legislation came into force.

Ms Rayner would not be drawn on the long-term plan, nor whether other buyers were interested or whether it would come down to nationalisation.

She said: “We’ve taken nothing off the table. We’d like to see private investment going forward… we’re confident of the future of British Steel.”

‘No evidence of sabotage’

Ms Rayner said the government “hasn’t seen any evidence” of sabotage, when asked about suggestions that Jingye might have purposefully attempted to shut the blast furnaces down.

The Chinese company stepped in with a deal to buy British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant out of insolvency five years ago.

Mr Reynolds told MPs on Saturday that the intention of Jingye… “was to cancel and refuse to pay for existing orders” which would have “irrevocably and unilaterally closed down primary steelmaking at British Steel”.

Appearing on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, the business secretary said he would not bring a Chinese company into the “sensitive” steel sector again.

Commenting on the situation for the first time on Monday, a Chinese embassy spokesperson urged the British government to act with “fairness, impartiality and non-discrimination… to make sure the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese company be protected”.

“It is an objective fact that British steel companies have generally encountered difficulties in recent years,” it added.

Companies including Tata – which ran the now-closed Port Talbot steelworks – and Rainham Steel have offered managerial support and materials to keep the Lincolnshire site running.

Union officials have said they are “hopeful” that the materials required at the North Lincolnshire works will arrive within the next 48 hours.

However Andy Prendergast, national secretary at the GMB, said there still needs to be “a deal to be done for the future” and their preference is “nationalisation of what is a key national asset”.

The Conservatives accused the government of acting “too late” and implementing a “botched nationalisation” after ignoring warnings about the risk to the steelworks.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “The Labour government have landed themselves in a steel crisis entirely of their own making.

“They’ve made poor decisions and let the unions dictate their actions.”