Category: Blog

The government has published proposals for crypto-asset regulation it hopes will “manage” the risks of the “turbulent industry”. 

The sector has had a calamitous year, with assets collapsing in value by an estimated 75% from their peak of about $3 trillion in November 2021.

Ministers estimate up to 10% of UK adults now own some form of crypto.

They plan to use existing regulations for the industry, rather than creating a bespoke regime.

The Treasury says that will allow crypto to benefit from the “confidence, credibility and regulatory clarity” of the existing system for financial services, as set out in the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA).

It wants to create a level playing field between traditional and emerging financial services, where the principle is “same risk, same regulatory outcome”.

But it also acknowledges some crypto businesses may simply choose to continue operating in offshore jurisdictions that “do not impose equivalent market-abuse rules”.

The Treasury says its proposals – which it’s now consulting on – will:

• lay down rules on crypto-asset promotions which are fair, clear and not misleading
• enhance data-reporting requirements, including with regulators
• implement new regulations to prevent so-called pump and dump, where an individual artificially inflates the value of a crypto asset before selling it

Ministers say the measures will “mitigate the most significant risks” of crypto technologies, while “harnessing their advantages”. 

Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith said the government remained “steadfast in our commitment to grow the economy and enable technological change and innovation – and this includes crypto-asset technology”.

“But we must also protect consumers who are embracing this new technology – ensuring robust, transparent and fair standards,” he added.

The US central bank has raised interest rates again as it continues its fight to stabilize prices in the world’s largest economy.

The Federal Reserve said it was raising its key rate by 0.25 percentage points.

That marks the smallest increase since last March, after a series of aggressive rate hikes last year.

But officials warned that they did not think they were finished raising rates, despite signs that price increases in the US are slowing. 

The bank’s moves are closely watched around the world as the US drives a global shift after years of low-interest rates that followed the financial crisis.

The Bank of England and European Central Bank are expected to announce their own rate increases on Thursday.

The rate rise announced by the Fed on Wednesday was expected. It increases the bank’s benchmark rate to a range of 4.5%-4.75% – the highest since 2007.

By pushing up borrowing costs, the Fed is trying to cool the economy and ease the pressures of pushing up prices.

But officials risk triggering a painful recession, in which the economy slows so sharply that it prompts mass job cuts.

Pressure has mounted on the bank to slow, or stop, its rate hike campaign, as the higher borrowing costs hurt sectors such as housing and the US economy, slows sharply. 

Those voices have grown louder amid recent data showing inflation in the US dropping to 6.5% last month.

Many investors have been betting that the bank will raise rates only once more after this meeting.

But Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said bank officials remained worried by data suggesting that the costs of many services – such as health care – are increasing far faster than the 2% pace considered healthy.

He said the bank would rather raise rates too high than declare victory over the problem prematurely. 

“The job is not fully done,” he said. “While recent developments are encouraging we will need substantially more evidence to be confident that inflation is on a sustained downward path.”

In the statement announcing its decision, Fed officials said they continued to believe “ongoing” increases would be appropriate.

Projections released in December showed they thought the bank’s benchmark rate could stand above 5% at the end of 2023.

Mr Powell declined to say whether officials had changed their views, noting that there was a lot of “uncertainty” about the outlook. 

Stocks rose during and after the news conference, with the S&P 500 ending up more than 1%. 

The market gains could be a sign that investors are gaining confidence that the central bank will be able to stabilize prices without a recession, said Jay Bryson, an economist at Wells Fargo. 

But Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard, said if investors get too optimistic that the rate rises are over, it may make the Fed’s job harder. 

“Taken together with today’s report indicating near record level job openings, I believe markets remain too dovish regarding how high rates will go and how long they will stay there,” he said. 

“The more markets resist the Fed, the tighter conditions will have to be to tame inflation.”

In 2020, murals in cities all over the globe gave voice to black protest and resistance. Arwa Haider explores the powerful graffiti art that memorializes George Floyd and others.

Over the summer of 2020, a portrait recurred on city walls across the world: an image of the black American George Floyd, who was brutally suffocated to death by police officer David Chauvin on 25 May, 2020. Most of these portraits were based on Floyd’s 2016 selfie, taken from his own Facebook account; many referred to the torment of his killing, and his final words. Thousands of miles from the US, protests numerous graffiti tributes to Floyd appeared in European cities and in Asia, Africa and Australia.

In Karachi, truck artist Haider Ali painted a portrait inscribed with English tags (‘#blacklivesmatter’) and Urdu song lyrics (“This world doesn’t belong to white or black people, it belongs to the ones with heart”); in Idlib, northwestern Syria, Floyd appeared among the war-ravaged ruins; in Nairobi, he was depicted alongside the Swahili word “haki“, meaning ‘justice’ (in a work by Kenyan artist Allan Mwangi, aka Mr Detail Seven); Palestinian artist Taqi Sbatin painted Floyd on the West Bank barrier; in Berlin’s Mauerpark, Floyd was portrayed on the wall by Dominican-born artist Eme Freethinker, alongside an array of iconic black US figures: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Jean-Michel Basquiat and the musician Prince.

These portraits are a testimony to human empathy, and the reach of the vast, multi-stranded Black Lives Matter movement. Graffiti is both an ancient form (traced back to writing on the wall in Ancient Greece and Rome) and a vital contemporary statement about society; independent graffiti and commissioned public art have also brought vivid focus to BLM. In a year when history is being emphatically questioned, and where a global pandemic has shut conventional galleries and museums, street art also highlights a diversity of viewpoints. The very public horror of Floyd’s killing (captured on videocam) lingers, but he is rarely an isolated figure; mural memorials also say the names of generations of innocent black US victims: among them, Breonna Taylor (killed by the police in her own home, 13 March, 2020); 12-year-old Tamir Rice (fatally shot by the police, 22 November, 2014); 14-year-old Emmett Till (lynched by racists, 28 August, 1955).International artists bring their own resonance; the Nairobi mural of Floyd also draws attention to accusations of police brutality in Kenya; Freethinker was adamant that his Berlin mural should honor Floyd’s life, rather than visualize his death, although he added in an interview with NPR: “I saw many, many other guys die by the police in my country, like almost for nothing. So I know how it is.” Syrian artist Aziz Asmar, who created the Idlib mural with Anis Hamdoun, told The National: “Art is a universal language. Our humanity requires us to unite with other people who are facing injustice. When we draw on the walls of destroyed buildings, we are telling the world that underneath these buildings there are people who have died or who have left their homes. It shows you that there was injustice here, just like there’s injustice in America.”

The chief executive of the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corporation has doubled down on using facial recognition at its venues to bar lawyers suing the group from attending events.

Speaking to Fox 5 on Thursday, MSG Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan said Madison Square Garden is a private company and therefore entitled to determine who is allowed to enter its venues for events.

“At Madison Square Garden, if you’re suing us, we’re just asking of you – please don’t come until you’re done with your argument with us,” he said. “And yes, we’re using facial recognition to enforce that.”

His comments come after New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday sent a letterto MSG Entertainment requesting information regarding its use of facial recognition technology to prohibit legitimate ticketholders from entering venues. The letter said the attorney general’s office has reviewed reports MSG Entertainment has used facial recognition to identify and deny entry to multiple lawyers affiliated with law firms involved in ongoing litigation with the company. The letter indicates thousands of attorneys from around 90 law firms may have been impacted by the policy and said the ban includes those holding season tickets.

attorney general’s letter raised the concern that banning individuals from accessing venues over ongoing litigation may violate local, state, and federal human rights laws, including laws prohibiting retaliation. The letter also questions whether the facial recognition software used by MSG Entertainment is reliable and what safeguards are in place to avoid bias and discrimination.

In a press release, James said, “MSG Entertainment cannot fight their legal battles in their own arenas. Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall are world-renowned venues and should treat all patrons who purchased tickets with fairness and respect. Anyone with a ticket to an event should not be concerned that they may be wrongfully denied entry based on their appearance, and we’re urging MSG Entertainment to reverse this policy.”