MPs on farming committee call on Rachel Reeves to delay family farm tax

Published

12 hours ago

May 16, 2025

admin

The UK’s food security and the future of farming lies in Rachel Reeves’ hands, a leading MP has said as a committee called on the government to delay farm inheritance tax changes.

The environment, food and rural affairs (EFRA) committee has released a report calling on the government to delay the reforms for a year until April 2027.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the October budget farmers would no longer be allowed to claim inheritance tax relief for farms worth more than £1m from April 2026.

The move prompted multiple protests in Westminster by farmers who said it will threaten the future of thousands of multi-generational family farms.

The EFRA committee, made up of seven Labour MPs and four Lib Dem and Tory MPs, said a pause in the implementation would “allow for better formulation of tax policy and provide the government with an opportunity to convey a positive long-term vision for farming”.

A delay would also protect vulnerable farmers who would have “more time to seek appropriate professional advice”, the MPs said.

The MPs raised concerns the change was announced “without adequate consultation, impact assessment or affordability assessment”, leaving the impact on farms and food security “disputed and unclear”.

They said it risks producing “unintended consequences” and threaten to “affect the most vulnerable”.

The MPs have called on the government to consider alternative reforms.

Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem chair of the committee, told Sky News: “There is a need for inheritance tax to be reformed.

“The use of land purchase by the super rich as a means of sheltering their wealth is something which is not in the public interest or farmers.

“But this is not the way to go about reform.

“The risk is you see farmers selling out, they will sell out to people who are not going to use land for food production then we risk losing food security – we’ve seen how foolish relying on exports is after Putin’s invasion.”

He added “as an outsider looking in”, the way in which the Treasury handled the inheritance tax announcement, after Labour said in opposition they would not change it, “has created a real problem of political authority” for Environment Secretary Steve Reed.

“It’s a problem the Treasury themselves can solve,” he said.

“Their own backbenchers increasingly think they should solve this and our report today gives them an opportunity to do that if they choose to take it.

“It really is up to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is over to her now.”

The committee report says before the autumn budget 70% of farmers felt optimistic about their futures, but that fell to 12% after the budget.

The survey, by the Farmers Guardian in March, also found 84% of farmers felt their mental health has been affected by the announcement.

Farmers said the government announcing the closure of applications to this year’s sustainable farming incentive with just hours to go, was also a cause.

The committee said there are other ways to achieve reform, and called on the government to publish its evaluation and rationale for not following alternative policy measures.

They also said the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has a pattern of “poor communication and last-minute decision-making following rumours and departmental leaks”.

Politics

Europe’s MiCA law is motion, but can the crypto industry keep up?

Published

46 mins ago

May 16, 2025

admin

Europe’s MiCA law is motion, but can the crypto industry keep up?

The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation — better known as MiCA — is now in its critical implementation phase. Designed to unify crypto regulation across all 27 EU member states, MiCA promises clarity, consumer protection and long-term market stability. But as implementation begins, cracks are already showing.

In this week’s episode of Byte-Sized Insight, we explore the key provisions of MiCA now in force, particularly around stablecoins, and why some of the largest players in the market are refusing to comply.

As of January 2025, crypto asset service providers (CASPs) began acquiring licenses to operate legally within the EU. A transitional or “grandfathering” period allows existing firms up to 18 months, depending on the member state, to comply. Still, with deadlines approaching, firms are being forced to act quickly.

Stablecoins at bay

One of MiCA’s earliest and most controversial provisions involves stablecoins. Under the law, no stablecoin can be offered to EU users unless the issuer is authorized in the EU and publishes a regulator-approved white paper.

Strict rules around asset reserves, governance, conflict of interest and marketing are also part of the package. Issuers are even banned from offering interest on tokens, removing a common incentive for adoption.

The world’s most-used stablecoin — Tether’s USDt (USDT) — has already announced it won’t seek MiCA compliance, meaning exchanges may soon be forced to delist it across the EU. This has major implications for liquidity, retail access and DeFi activity in the region.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson at Token 2049:

“The reason is not, uh, fear of regulations, fear of compliance… The problem that I had with um, with MiCA is that [the] license is very dangerous when it comes to stablecoins and I believe that it’s even more dangerous for the small medium banking system in Europe.”

Compliance is key

On the flip side, other firms are leaning in. BitGo, a crypto custody firm, recently secured a MiCA-aligned license in Germany, positioning itself to serve institutional players across Europe.

Brett Reeves, head of Go Network and European Sales at BitGo, told Cointelegraph the license is not just about compliance, but long-term strategic alignment with Europe’s evolving regulatory landscape.

“We found that both BaFin and the European regulators have been relatively straightforward to deal with. Sometimes they have difficult questions, but they’re there to make sure that our processes are in place and up to scratch.”

We also spoke with Erwin Voloder, head of policy at the European Blockchain Association, who emphasized the need for consistent national-level interpretation and better guidance from regulators to prevent fragmentation.

Listen to the full episode of Byte-Sized Insight for the complete interview on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows!

Magazine: Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Politics

Ripple: Judge’s settlement rejection has no effect on legal victory

Published

54 mins ago

May 16, 2025

admin

<div>Ripple: Judge's settlement rejection has no effect on legal victory</div>

Ripple’s legal chief said a US court’s rejection of a proposed XRP settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not pose a threat to Ripple’s win.

Judge Analisa Torres of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected a joint Ripple-SEC motion seeking an indicative ruling on their proposed settlement, according to a filing on May 15.

Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, said the rejection does not reverse the company’s victory in the case. The company announced the end of the lawsuit on March 19.

Ripple: Judge's settlement rejection has no effect on legal victory — *Source:* *Stuart Alderoty*

Alderoty stressed that the latest court decision does not change the fact that XRP (XRP) is not a security, adding that the rejection is related to “procedural concerns with the dismissal of Ripple’s cross-appeal.”

Why did the court refuse to grant the ruling?

According to the court document, Torres denied the motion as “procedurally improper” since the SEC and Ripple failed to file the correct procedural motion to support the proposed settlement.

“By styling their motion as one for ‘settlement approval,’ the parties fail to address the heavy burden they must overcome to vacate the injunction and substantially reduce the civil penalty,” the Judge wrote.

The SEC and Ripple agreed to lower the court’s $125 million fine days before Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the end of the case. Subsequently, Alderoty disclosed on X that the SEC will keep $50 million of the $125 million fine.

“The parties have made no effort to satisfy that burden here; their request does not even mention the Rule,” the court document stated.

Community asks for explanation

As Alderoty has not provided any details on the nature of procedural concerns by the court, but assured the public that Ripple and the SEC are “fully in agreement to resolve the case,” many in the community were unhappy with the lack of specifics from Ripple.

“First, in a recent post about this case, you said you would not be making any more X posts because the case was closed,” one XRP observer responded to Alderoty in the X thread.

“Second, I don’t think it’s enough to just say that it’s procedural. I think further explanation of what went wrong in the filing is needed,” one XRP observer wrote in an X thread,” the post continued.

“Let’s remember that both he and Brad said the case was over, and it still isn’t; they’re cheating us a little,” another user speculated.

The news came shortly after online reports suggested that US President Donald Trump was allegedly manipulated by a Ripple-linked lobbyist into announcing the XRP token would be part of his plans for a national cryptocurrency reserve.

Many in the Bitcoin (BTC) community have been slamming Ripple for advocating for a multi-coin strategic reserve, instead of a Bitcoin-only reserve.

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee

Politics

Central banks testing smart contract toolkit under BIS Project Pine

Published

5 hours ago

May 16, 2025

admin

Central banks testing smart contract toolkit under BIS Project Pine

Central banks are experimenting with smart contracts to implement monetary policy in tokenized environments, signaling a growing interest in integrating blockchain technology into traditional finance (TradFi).

According to a joint research study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Innovation Center and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub Swiss Centre, smart contracts could offer central banks flexible, rapid-response tools in a tokenized financial system.

The study, dubbed Project Pine, tested a prototype “generic customizable monetary policy tokenized toolkit” for further research by central banks, according to a BIS report published May 15.

“The smart contract toolkit was fast and flexible,” the BIS wrote. “In hypothetical scenarios, the central bank was able to add and change tools instantly.”

The report emphasized that if tokenization becomes widely adopted for money and securities, smart contracts could play a central role in how monetary policy is executed.

This marks a “first step” in highlighting the potential benefits of tokenization for central banks, according to the BIS.

The framework “speed and consistency” was “validated” within a 10-minute hypothetical scenario where central banks quickly changed collateral criteria and exchanged liquid collateral for illiquid amid falling collateral values.

The smart-contract framework also allowed central banks to deploy a new facility offering reserves and changing the interest rates on the reserves in an “immediate” implementation.

Smart contracts, tokenization may help central banks

Smart contracts and tokenization technology may help central banks’ rapid response to “extraordinary events,” the BIS report said:

“This speed, coupled with the ability to adjust any of the parameters at any time, gives central banks flexibility in responding to unforeseen events and fast-moving crises.”

While promising, the report also acknowledged that central banks will likely face infrastructure challenges, as most existing systems are not designed for these advanced use cases.

Project Pine employed Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard combined with another standard for “access control.”

Financial institutions have increasingly embraced tokenization in recent years.

At the Consensus 2025 conference, Joseph Spiro, product director at DTCC Digital Assets, called stablecoins the “perfect” financial instrument for real-time collateral management for financial transactions such as loans or derivatives.