Robert Jenrick vows to ‘bring coalition together’ to end Tory-Reform fight

Published

3 weeks ago

April 23, 2025

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Robert Jenrick has vowed to “bring this coalition together” to ensure that Conservatives and Reform UK are no longer fighting each other for votes by the time of the next election, according to a leaked recording obtained by Sky News.

The shadow justice secretary told an event with students last month he would try “one way or another” to make sure Reform UK and the Tories do not compete at another general election and hand a second term in office to Sir Keir Starmer in the process.

In the exclusive audio, Mr Jenrick can be heard telling the students he is still working hard to put Reform UK out of business – the position of the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

However, more controversially, the comments also suggest he can envisage a time when that position may no longer be viable and has to change. He denies any suggestion this means he is advocating a Tory-Reform UK pact.

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The shadow justice secretary came second to Mrs Badenoch in the last leadership contest and is the bookies’ favourite to replace her as the next Conservative leader.

Speaking to the UCL Conservative association dinner in late March, he can be heard saying: “[Reform UK] continues to do well in the polls. And my worry is that they become a kind of permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene. And if that is the case, and I say, I am trying to do everything I can to stop that being the case, then life becomes a lot harder for us, because the right is not united.

“And then you head towards the general election, where the nightmare scenario is that Keir Starmer sails in through the middle as a result of the two parties being disunited. I don’t know about you, but I’m not prepared for that to happen.

“I want the right to be united. And so, one way or another, I’m determined to do that and to bring this coalition together and make sure we unite as a nation as well.”

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This is the furthest a member of the shadow cabinet has gone in suggesting that they think the approach to Reform UK may evolve before the next general election.

Last night, Mr Jenrick denied this meant he was advocating a pact with Reform UK.

Sir Keir used Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday to accuse Ms Badenoch of having “lost control of her party” and said Mr Jenrick and Reform leader Nigel Farage are “cooking up their joint manifesto”.

“The member for Clacton (Mr Farage) is going to do what he always does – eat the Tory party for breakfast,” he added.

A source close to Mr Jenrick said: “Rob’s comments are about voters and not parties. He’s clear we have to put Reform out of business and make the Conservatives the natural home for all those on the right, rebuilding the coalition of voters we had in 2019 and can have again. But he’s under no illusions how difficult that is – we have to prove over time we’ve changed and can be trusted again.”

Mrs Badenoch has said in interviews that she cannot see any circumstances in which the Tories under her leadership would do a deal with Reform UK.

Richard Fuller, the Conservative’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, insisted to Sky News Mr Jenrick was not talking about a coalition, but meant if you divide up “the right” then “you end up with a far left government” and “we want to make sure we don’t repeat that mistake”.

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice told Sky News “competition is a good thing” and for people who do not want to vote for Labour, “they’ve got to vote for common sense, courage and leadership, and you only get that from Reform UK”.

“Frankly, they [the Conservatives] should disappear into sort of yester-year,” he said.

“And we are at a once in a century moment where a new party is taking over from the Conservatives.”

Mr Tice added: “Robert, you’re saying some good things on justice. But you’re in the wrong party, chap.”

Chair of the Labour Party, Ellie Reeves, said: “I think people have the right to know what they’re voting for when they go to the polls, are they voting for a coalition of chaos or voting Conservative, getting Reform, voting Reform, getting Conservative?

“These grubby backroom deals Jenrick seems to be talking about, they need to come clean about it, Badenoch needs to come clean about it.”

In next week’s local elections, Reform UK will compete directly against the Tories in a series of contests from Kent to Lincolnshire. At last year’s general election, in more than 170 of the 251 constituencies lost by the Conservatives the Reform vote was greater than the margin of the Tories’ defeat.

Today’s YouGov/Sky voting intention figures put Reform UK in front on 25%, Labour on 23% and the Conservatives on 20%, with the Lib Dems on 16% and Greens on 10%.

Politics

Wintermute opens New York office, citing improved US crypto rules

Published

4 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Wintermute opens New York office, citing improved US crypto rules

Wintermute, a London-based algorithmic crypto trading and market-making firm, has opened an office in New York as part of its expansion into the US.

Wintermute announced the opening of its New York office on May 15, citing improved regulatory conditions in the world’s largest economy.

“As the US takes a friendlier stance on digital assets and institutional adoption accelerates, we moved quickly to establish roots in New York City,” the company wrote in a May 15 X post, adding that the local presence will help them in “contributing to the future regulatory framework.”

“We’re eager to continue our growth and play an integral role in the U.S. market,” according to Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute. “As a neutral player with deep expertise in all areas of digital assets, we believe we are well-positioned to lend our expertise on Capitol Hill.”

As part of the firm’s expansion, Wintermute has appointed Ron Hammond as its new head of policy and advocacy, who brings “ten years of experience shaping crypto policy on Capitol Hill,” the company also announced.

Hammond was previously the senior director of government relations and institutional engagement at the Blockchain Association and the policy lead for US Representative Warren Davidson.

Hammond also authored the Token Taxonomy Act of 2021, the first bipartisan-supported crypto regulatory bill in the US.

Increasingly more crypto firms have expanded into the US since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 after winning the 2024 presidential election.

During his campaign, Trump signaled that his administration intends to make crypto policy a national priority, bolstering expectations for more innovation-friendly crypto regulations for the next four years.

At least eight large crypto firms have announced their expansion in the US so far this year, banking on growing regulatory clarity. These include Binance.US, eToro, OKX exchange, Nexo, Circle, Crypto.com and a16z, Cointelegraph reported on May 11.

Wintermute met with SEC Crypto Task Force

Wintermute said it aims to contribute to the emerging regulatory framework in the US.

“We’ve already met with the SEC Crypto Task Force and will continue offering technical input and contributing to key legislative efforts,” the company said, adding that these are “essential for continued institutional participation.”

Meanwhile, crypto industry participants await progress on the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act.

The STABLE Act passed the House Financial Services Committee in a 32–17 vote on April 2 and currently awaits scheduling for debate and a floor vote in the House of Representatives.

However, a second piece of key stablecoin legislation, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, initially failed to garner enough support from Democrats on May 8, prompting at least 60 top crypto founders to gather in Washington, DC, to show support.

Despite the stalled stablecoin legislation, “momentum toward regulatory clarity remains active in both chambers,” Nexo dispatch analyst Iliya Kalchev told Cointelegraph.

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Tether blacklist delay allowed $78M in illicit USDT transfers: Report

Published

4 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Tether blacklist delay allowed M in illicit USDT transfers: Report

A lag in Tether’s wallet blacklisting process allowed over $78 million in illicit funds to be moved before enforcement actions took effect, according to a new report from blockchain compliance company AMLBot.

Tether’s address blacklisting becomes effective only after a considerable delay from when the process is initiated on Ethereum and Tron, according the report published May 15.

“This delay originates from Tether’s multisignature contract setup on both Tron and Ethereum, transforming what should be an immediate compliance action into a window of opportunity for illicit actors,“ the report reads.

Tether’s blacklisting procedure is a multi-step process with a first transaction effectively warning of the upcoming blacklisting. First, a Tether administrator multisignature transaction submits a pending call to “addBlackList” on the USDT-TRC20 contract.

This results in a public “submission” of the target address as a blacklist candidate. This is followed by a second multisignature transaction confirming the submission, resulting in an “AddedBlackList” emission, making the blacklisting effective.

A warning on incoming blacklisting

In one example shared with Cointelegraph, an onchain transaction submitting a Tron address as a blacklist candidate took place at 11:10:12 UTC. The second transaction that actually enforced the action did not occur until 11:54:51 UTC on the same day, a 44-minute delay.

In practice, this delay can be treated by owners of USDt about to be blacklisted as a notice to move their assets to avoid them being frozen. The report stated:

“This delay between a freeze request and its on-chain execution creates a critical attack window, allowing malicious actors to front-run enforcement and move or launder funds before the freeze takes effect.“

Tether blacklist delay allowed $78M in illicit USDT transfers: Report — *Example of USDt blacklisting transactions. Source: AMLBot*

The report says that “for blockchain-savvy attackers, these delays are golden.” By tracking Tether’s calls in real time, a fraudster can be instantly alerted that their address is being targeted. When asked by Cointelegraph whether the delay is a technical limitation or just a delay in the actions of a multisignature wallet key holder, AMLBot researchers said that they cannot determine it without knowledge of Tether’s internal procedures.

In a statement to Cointelegraph, a Tether spokesperson explained that “while any delay in enforcement should be examined, the idea that this represents a systemic loophole is both misleading and lacking perspective.” According to the company, it collaborates with Law Enforcement to freeze addresses on a daily basis.” The statement continues:

“Tether operates on public blockchains, where all activity is visible — unlike fiat currencies that move in secret through traditional banks. This transparency allows Tether, in collaboration with over 255 law enforcement agencies across 55 countries, to track, trace, and freeze illicit funds faster than most realize.“

Tether representatives also cited one case when they were able to freeze 106,000 USDT tied to the ByBit hack, whereas Circle took much longer to freeze 115,000 USD Coin (USDC). The discrepancy was pointed out by pseudonymous sleuth ZachXBT in an X post answering the Circle CEO CEO Jeremy Allaire.

Tether’s spokesperson explained that “the delay cited in the report stems from our multi-signature governance model, designed to prevent unilateral freezes and protect the integrity of our system.” They admit that this introduces a delay, “but it’s a trade-off for responsible responsiveness to a $100+ billion ecosystem” and improvements are on the way:

“We are actively refining this process to work to eliminate any potential advantage for bad actors. If you think you can use Tether to move illicit funds, think again.“

Not just theoretical

AMLBot said its data shows that over $28.5 million in USDT was withdrawn during the delay between the two transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. This amount of freeze avoidance occurred between Nov. 28, 2017, and May 12, 2025. The average amount moved during the delay exceeded $365,000.

Similarly, $49.6 million was reportedly withdrawn during freeze delay windows on the Tron blockchain, resulting in a total on Ethereum and Tron of $78.1 million. Exploiting this delay on Tron is not particularly rare, according to AMLBot:

“170 out of 3,480 wallets (4.88%) on Tron blockchain exploited the lag before getting blacklisted. Each of these wallets made 2–3 transfers during the delay, withdrawing: Average: $291,970.“

A Tether spokesperson told Cointelegraph that “the $76 million referenced in this report should be put in context of the more than $2.7 billion in USD₮ that Tether has successfully frozen and blocked to date.” They added

Tether has previously promoted its ability to freeze assets as a compliance feature. In 2024, Tether, Tron, and analytics firm TRM Labs cooperated to freeze over $126 million in USDT linked to illicit activity.

Still, the AMLBot report raises questions about the effectiveness and speed of those enforcement actions.

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