What is happening in the Middle East is so terrible in human terms that it seems wrong to be discussing the implications for investment. But that is what markets have to do.

However horrible things are, and however huge the uncertainties, the plain fact is that the markets have to try to work out what might happen to the economies of different countries, to the price of the various types of assets, to interest rates, inflation, and so on – and all amid the fog of war.

While we cannot know what will happen in the coming months, there will clearly be a period of extended conflict. This isn’t just about the immediate consequences of last week’s Israeli strike. The practical question facing us all is how best to invest in an increasingly dangerous world.

Some short-term reactions have already become evident, but they have been strangely muted. The gold price has jumped, though it’s still a little below its all-time peak in April. Oil prices climbed too, but at $75 a barrel on the Brent measure, they are down on where they were at the start of this year.

As for shares, naturally they too took a hit, but the FTSE 100 index is still close to the all-time high it reached on Thursday.

It is almost as if the markets are accepting continuing conflict as a fact of life, just another of the string of things they have learnt to cope with. Can that be right?

There are two responses to that. One is to say the world economy is huge and regional tensions will always burst out, as we have seen in the past three years.

What happened last week was part of that pattern. But because the global economy is so big, the ability of these conflicts to inflict damage beyond the countries and people affected is limited.

To put the point harshly, the argument is that while this is horrible for the people caught up in the conflict, it is manageable as far as the wider economy goes.

The other response is to say this is far too complacent. Quite aside from its human toll, war destroys wealth. Resources have to go into reconstruction and additional defence spending afterwards.

Money that goes into military hardware and armed service salaries is money not available for education, health and all the other things that government supports.

Though these conflicts are regional, and we hope against hope they will remain so, it would be naive to suppose we will not feel the effects across the developed world. That leads to practical implications for us all. Disruption is never good. It puts up the cost of everything. It leads to higher government borrowing – yes, even higher – for we are already in a mess across the developed world on that score.

That inevitably puts up interest rates to higher levels than they would otherwise have been. And since the central banks will probably not put up rates by enough, I’m afraid the outcome must be higher-than-expected inflation. So what should we do? 

I take comfort in looking at what happened after the Second World War, which saw the destruction of life and wealth far beyond anything on the distant horizon now.

Industry and commerce recovered quite swiftly and, after a lag, share prices reflected that. House prices took a while to steady, before starting their long, if uneven, march upwards.

Inflation was suppressed at first but eventually burst out even more viciously than we have seen in the past five years. And anyone who held cash or bought government securities lost their shirts.

So we should go on saving and investing. We should hold as little cash as practicable, and I personally hate the idea of holding gilts – UK Government bonds – even at their apparently decent yields.

Property may not be a great buy at the moment, with stamp duty changes, non-doms pulling out, landlords selling up and punitive council tax rises. But we all have to live somewhere, and a mortgage is a form of forced saving. On a long view, owning one’s home must make sense.

And then there are equities, and note this. If, after everything that has been thrown at big British companies, the FTSE 100 index is hovering around its all-time high, what on earth would it do if the clouds lift a little?

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Another highlight is following Speyside’s Malt Whisky Trail, a microcosm of working distilleries, a historic still house, and the UK’s only cooperage, which produces and repairs nearly 150,000 oak casks every year. At each stop, the idea is to connect with Scotland’s wild, earthy and extraordinary landscape.

Maybe the essential draw of a whiskey trip—by rail, road, or ferry—is that everyone feels implicit in the experience, lost to it and in love with Scotland’s landscapes anew, and this helps bring you into closer touch with its communities, but also with a deeper part of yourself. Everyone agrees, teetotaller or not. Whiskey emboldens the traveler.

Six of the best distilleries to visit in Scotland

Glenmorangie, Tain

This part of the Easter Ross coast, crumpled and folded with low, brooding hills and patched with barley fields, lies invisible to many visitors—that is, with the exception of this world-renowned distillery. Drams of floral, citrus-spiced whiskey have been produced on the farm there since 1843, yet the distillery has continued to evolve. As well as a glass tower housing two swan-necked stills—the tallest in the country—and a half-mad laboratory for new creations, there are tours galore and innovative dram tastings. To stay overnight, whiskey-flavor-inspired rooms and cottages are the reward at deliciously handsome Glenmorangie House nearby.

The Glenturret, Crieff

Founded in 1763, making it Scotland’s oldest working distillery, The Glenturret has something no other can brag about: a Michelin-star restaurant. Right now, The Glenturret Lalique has two stars thanks to chef Mark Donald’s commitment to doing wonderful things with tattie scones, langoustine and juniper-smoked sika deer, and yet his multi-course menu is only one of the draws. There are whisky maker experiences and bespoke private tours, a Lalique boutique and a 12-bed private hideaway, Aberturret Estate House. The drink itself? The 12 Year Old is rich, with dried fruits, gentle spices and smooth, oaky sweetness. Approachable, then, like the distillery itself.

The Macallan, Aberlour

Central Speyside is Valhalla for spirit lovers, with shoulder-to-shoulder distilleries like Aberlour, Cardhu, Craigellachie and Knockando paying painstaking tributes to maltmen, past and present. In the eye of the River Spey, The Macallan Estate looks as though it might have always been there, the building half emerging from the soil like a mythical Scots beastie rearing its back. The architecture is arresting and a reflection of the forests around it — a visual display of woven steel, wood and vaulted interiors beneath a wildflower-turfed roof. Undeniably romantic, it is also a place for insightful tours and next-level fine dining, thanks to the arrival of TimeSpirit, a fantasy restaurant collaboration with three-Michelin-starred El Celler de Can Roca.

The Port of Leith Distillery, Edinburgh

On down the coast to the capital and to this vertical distillery, the first of its kind in the country. Every other building in Leith seems to be obsessed with heritage, but not this hyper-modern, nine-storey black waterfront tower—the idea was originally for a conventional distillery, but ambition drove co-owners Ian Stirling and Paddy Fletcher towards the clouds. As well as various tours and tastings, the top-floor mezzanine bar rewards with whisky cocktails and memorable skyline views. “We envisage interrogating every part of the whisky production process to create a perfectly balanced waxy spirit,” says head of whisky Vaibhav Sood. “People are falling in love with tradition, and in a world full of digital, we’re producing something organic and steeped in heritage.”

Glen Scotia, Campbeltown

In the 1800s, this end-of-the-road Kintyre town was the world’s whisky capital, with 35-odd distilleries crowded and clustering the streets. These days, only three remain. The Victorian-era warehouse of Glen Scotia, with its story beginning in 1832, still feels raw and warped, yet it is the ideal setting for behind-the-scenes tours to learn about mashing and fermentation, distillation and maturation. Distillery manager Iain McAlister is a whiskey polymath, and his dedication to single cask expressions has seen the distillery win numerous best-in-class awards, so don’t pass on a flight tasting masterclass. A long way from most other big-ticket distilleries, it’s the sort of place where you feel part of a secret club.

Ardbeg

Nowhere is the character of whisky so influenced by sea and land as on the Southern Hebridean island of Islay — you can feel it in the air, with your senses slammed. The phenol-heavy, oily drams produced by the 10 obsessive distilleries here are influenced by the mashing Atlantic, wind-whipped sea spray, and pungent, crackling peat, particularly those produced on the south coast. This is where you’ll find Ardbeg, a coastal home for dram-in-detail warehouse tours, plus fine food at The Old Kiln Cafe and Ardstream Trailer. Upping the showiness, Ardbeg House in nearby Port Ellen is opening this autumn, with slavering attention to detail, a dozen themed rooms, a restaurant and a bar to muddle over the peaty paradox of soot and fruit. “A whisky lover will taste an Ardbeg somewhere like Shanghai, then look at where it’s made,” says distillery manager Colin Gordon. “On a rock in the Atlantic Ocean — and that’s so captivating.”

A version of this story originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller UK.

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Thousands of people took to the streets of US cities and towns on Saturday afternoon in a wave of protests against the Trump administration ahead of the US president’s military parade in Washington.

The protests, known as the No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance, are a response to what the organisers describe as a shift towards authoritarianism and the militarisation of democracy. They are expected to be the largest since Donald Trump began his second term in the White House.

A $40mn military parade to commemorate the US Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday, is set to begin in the US capital at around 6.30pm.

As many as 100,000 demonstrators were expected to gather in Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed, with tens of thousands expected in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles.

Police in Minnesota called on people in the state not to attend the rallies following the assassination of state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband early on Saturday. The shootings happened just hours after the attempted assassination of State Senator John Hoffman.

No Kings said the protests planned for state capital Saint Paul would go ahead.

“We think it’s important to gather peacefully. In the face of this horror, we will mourn and mark our determination for a peaceful, just, democratic future,” the group said.

Minnesota attorney-general Keith Ellison said at the rally in Minneapolis that Trump’s behaviour was that of a dictator.

“He’s trying to abolish the Department of Education, he’s trying to get rid of USAID that helps people in Minnesota and abroad, he’s trying to get rid of science grants that help fuel our economy and add new cures, he’s trying to persecute the trans community,” Ellison said.

The US president was trying to rule the country through acts of proclamation, he added.

The rallies follow clashes between law enforcement and protesters demonstrating against the Trump administration’s raids on alleged undocumented workers in several US cities.

Trump ordered the deployment of marines and the National Guard to Los Angeles over the objections of Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor.

After spending about a week with the Nintendo Switch 2, I have to admit that it’s a good console. It’s priced fairly for its sleek form factor and the performance it offers, and it sets Nintendo up to stay relevant while gaming graphics only continue to get more complex. And yet, for my own personal tastes, it’s still not my handheld of choice. Instead, I’ll be sticking to Valve’s Steam Deck, the first and still overall best handheld gaming PC, at least going by value for money. And if you don’t necessarily care about Nintendo’s exclusive games, there’s a good chance it might be the better option for you, too.

The Steam Deck is cheaper than the Switch 2

Out of the gate, the most obvious reason to get a Steam Deck over a Nintendo Switch 2 is price. Starting at $400 for a new model, it’s only modestly cheaper than the Switch 2’s $450, but that’s only part of the story. Valve also runs a certified refurbished program that offers used Decks with only cosmetic blemishes for as low as $279. Restocks are infrequent, since Valve is only able to sell as much as gets sent back to it, but when they do happen, it’s a heck of a great deal.

That said, there is one catch. The Steam Deck OLED, which offers a bigger, more colorful screen and a larger battery, is more expensive than the Switch 2, starting at $549. However, it’s maybe a bit unfair to compare the two, since the Switch 2 does not use an OLED screen and comes with less storage. If all you care about is the basics (I’m perfectly happy with my LCD model), the base Steam Deck is good enough—it’s got the same performance as the more recent one. And that performance, by the way, ended up being about on par with the Switch 2 in my testing, at least in Cyberpunk 2077 (one of my go-to benchmark games).

The Steam Deck is more comfortable to hold than the Switch 2

This one is a bit of a toss-up, depending on your preferences, although I think the Steam Deck takes a slight lead here. While the Nintendo Switch 2 aims for a completely flat and somewhat compact profile, the Steam Deck instead allows itself to stretch out, and even though it’s a little bigger and a little heavier for it, I ultimately think that makes it more comfortable.

At 11.73 x 4.60 x 1.93 inches against the Switch 2’s 10.7 x 4.5 x 0.55 inches, and at 1.41 pounds against the Switch 2’s 1.18 pounds, I won’t deny that this will be a non-starter for some. But personally, I still feel like the Steam Deck comes out on top, and that’s thanks to its ergonomics.

I’ve never been a big fan of Nintendo’s joy-con controllers, and while the Switch 2’s joy-con 2 controllers improve on the Switch 1’s with bigger buttons and sticks, as well as more room to hold onto them, they still pale in comparison next to the Steam Deck’s controls.

On the Switch 2, there are no grips to wrap your fingers around. On the Steam Deck, there are. The triggers also flare out more, and because the console is wider, your hands can stretch out a bit, rather than choking up on the device. It can get a bit heavy to hold a Steam Deck after a while, but I still prefer this approach overall, and if you have a surface to rest the Steam Deck against (like an airplane tray table), weight is a non-issue.

Plus, there are some extra bonuses that come with the additional space. The Steam Deck has large touchpads on either side of the device, plus four grip buttons on the back of it, giving you some extra inputs to play around with. Nice.

It’s a bit less portable and a bit heavier, but for my adult hands, the Steam Deck is just better shaped to them.

The Steam Deck has a bigger, cheaper library than the Switch 2

This is the kicker. While there are cheap games that can run on the Switch 2 courtesy of backwards compatibility and third-party eShop titles, the big system draws (Nintendo-developed titles like Mario Kart World, for example) can get as pricey as $80. Not to say the Steam Deck doesn’t have expensive games as well, but on the whole, I think it’s easier to get cheap and free games on the Steam Deck than on the eShop.

That’s because, being a handheld gaming PC, the Steam Deck can take advantage of the many sales and freebies PC gaming stores love to give out. These happen a bit more frequently on PC than on console, and that’s because there’s more competition on PC. Someone on PC could download games either from Steam or Epic, for instance, while someone on the Switch 2 can only download games from the Nintendo eShop.

So, even sticking to just Steam, you’ll get access to regular weekend and mid-week sales, quarterly event sales, and developer or publisher highlight sales. That’s more sales events than you’ll usually find on the Nintendo eShop, and if you’re looking for cheaper first-party games, forget about it. Nintendo’s own games hardly ever go on sale, even years after release.

But that’s just the beginning. Despite being named the Steam Deck, the device can actually run games from other stores, too. That’s thanks to an easily installed Linux program called Heroic Launcher, which is free and lets you download and play games from your Epic, GOG, and Amazon Prime Games accounts with just a few clicks.

Credit: Heroic Games Launcher

This is a game changer. Epic and Amazon Prime are both underdogs in the PC gaming space, and so to bolster their numbers, they both regularly give away free games. Epic in particular offers one free PC game every week, whereas if you’re a Twitch user, you might notice a decent but more infrequent amount of notifications allowing you to claim free Amazon Prime games. Some of these are big titles, too—it’s how I got Batman: Arkham Knight and Star Wars Battlefront II. With a simple install and a few months of waiting, you could have a Steam Deck filled to the brim with games that you didn’t even pay for. You just can’t do that on Nintendo.

And then there’s the elephant in the room: your backlog. If you’re anything like me, you probably already have a Steam library that’s hundreds of games large. It was maybe even like this before the Switch 1 came out—regular sales have a tendency to build up the amount of games you own. By choosing the Steam Deck as your handheld, you’ll be able to play those games on the go, instantly giving you what might as well be a full library with no added cost to you. If you migrate over to the Nintendo Switch 2, you’re going to have to start with a fresh library, or at least a library that’s only as old as the Nintendo Switch 1.

Basically, while the Switch 2’s hardware is only $50 more expensive than the Steam Deck, it’ll be easier to fill your Steam Deck up with high quality, inexpensive games than it would be on the Switch 2. If you don’t care about having access to Nintendo exclusive games, that’s a huge draw.

TV Play is a mixed bag

Finally, I want to acknowledge that the Steam Deck still isn’t necessarily a better option than the Switch 2 for everyone. That’s why I’m writing from a personal perspective here. Like all gaming PCs, it’ll take some fiddling to get some games to run, so the Switch 2 is definitely a smoother experience out of the box. It’s also got less battery life, from my testing. But the big point of departure is TV play.

Playing your portable games on a TV on the Switch 2 is as simple as plugging it into its dock. With the Steam Deck, you have to buy a dock separately (the official one is $79), and even then, you have to connect your own controller to it and manually find suitable TV graphics settings for each game on its own. It’s not nearly as easy or flexible.

And yet, for folks like me, I’m willing to say that even TV play is better. Or, depending on what type of PC gamer you are, monitor play.

That’s because you’re not limited to playing your Steam Deck games on the Deck itself, dock or not. Instead, you can play on the Deck when you’re away from your home, and then swap over to your regular gaming PC when you’re back. Your Deck will upload your saves to the cloud automatically, and your PC will seamlessly download them. While not as intuitive as plugging your Switch 2 into its dock, the benefit here is that your non-portable play isn’t limited by the power of your portable device, whereas docked Switch 2 play is still held back by running on portable hardware.

The tradeoff is that maintaining a dedicated gaming PC in addition to a Steam Deck is more expensive, but maybe more importantly, requires more tinkering (there are ways to build a cheap gaming PC, after all). And I think that’s the key point here. If you want a simple-to-use, pick-up-and-play handheld, the Switch 2 is a great choice for you. But if you’re like me, and you’re not afraid to download some launchers and occasionally dive into compatibility settings or swap between two devices, the Steam Deck might still be the best handheld gaming device for you, even three years later.

I wrote a freelance article for Protection Guru to mark Cancer Survivors Day earlier this month. The brief was to speak to people in the protection industry who have personal experience of cancer and the protection claims process.

My first ports of call were industry consultant Emma Thomson and MetLife UK head of individual protection Phil Jeynes. Both have spoken publicly about their cancer experiences, and as expected they were happy to help. But I also wanted to widen my net, so I put the word out among PRs and marketing teams that I was looking for people in the industry to share their stories.

It’s a sensitive subject – I know people in financial services who have told me about having cancer but want to keep it a private matter. So, I wasn’t expecting many people to come forward.

Something worried me – none of the willing participants had mentioned their experience of the protection claims process

It surprised me when my contacts came back with the names of several people who wanted to help. But something worried me – none of those willing participants had mentioned their experience of the protection claims process. What if they were expecting to contribute to a consumer-type article around cancer awareness and had nothing to say about protection claims?

A bit of double checking proved I was right to have concerns. All bar one of the four or five people who came forward could not help me after all. The reason being they hadn’t claimed on a protection policy after being diagnosed with cancer.

It wasn’t that they wanted to talk about the cancer but didn’t want to share personal details, like how much their payout was. I would have understood that, as culturally, our finances are something we don’t shout publicly about. They just hadn’t made any claims that they could talk about.

I was still surprised at the number of people who had wanted to help me hadn’t made a protection claim

I know that some low-grade cancers are not covered by today’s critical-illness (CI) plans, for example, and that may have been a factor. But I was still surprised at the number of people who had wanted to help me with the article but hadn’t made a protection claim.

I’m no expert, but I’d have expected at least one other person to have claimed on income protection (IP), for example. It’s not inconceivable to be unable to work while receiving treatment and recovering.

The only logical conclusion I can make is that even people who work in financial services are relying on things like company sick pay, their partner’s income and maybe a bit of savings rather than protection policies when diagnosed with a serious illness.

If that is the case, we need to ensure those who work in financial services but who perhaps do not come into contact with the advice side, have some awareness and knowledge of the protection basics.

Making personal use of professional skills is something that most people could probably be better at

As I write this, I’ve realised it’s not specifically a ‘protection problem’. I’m sure there are plenty of people who work in financial services who are not doing as much as they should in relation to retirement planning, for example. Even those who know they could do more.

It’s like that whole thing about builders having the worst house on the street because they’re so busy working on everyone else’s house – making personal use of professional skills is something that most people could probably be better at.

But as I learned from researching that feature, protection policies like CI and IP have other useful benefits on top of the payouts they provide that people won’t necessarily know about until they have a policy.

Phil Jeynes, for example, talked about the speed and convenience of seeing a virtual GP in his hotel room while at a conference. That appointment led to a quick referral for diagnostic tests, so there was just two weeks between his diagnosis of colon cancer and surgery to remove it.

As he says in the article I wrote, speed is of the essence when dealing with cancer. So, anything we can do to get the process moving quickly has to be a good thing.

I’ve found people in the industry have just wanted to get on with what needs to be done when touched by cancer

Speaking to LifeSearch claims expert Lisa Kelly about her husband Jon’s experience with bowel cancer revealed pretty much the same thing.

As Kelly worked as a LifeSearch adviser when Jon was diagnosed, she dealt with his private medical insurance and CI claims. They both just wanted to get through the medical and claims processes as quickly as possible so Jon could get on the road to recovery – with no ‘bells and whistles’.

Generally speaking, I’ve found people in the industry have just wanted to get on with what needs to be done when touched by cancer. Thomson, Jeynes and Kelly were all aware of added-value benefits such as the nurse-led support from organisations such as Reframe Cancer and RedArc. But none of them felt they needed this kind of support, although knowing it was there was reassuring.

We’re all different and will take away different things from the various benefits on offer. That is very different to working in financial services and not having any cover in place.

Without the ability to attract and retain a good – and healthy – workforce, employers will have no businesses

Last year, I wrote a feature for Money Marketing about employee benefits and part of that looked at what advice firms could do for their staff in terms of financial wellbeing. I’d assumed working at an advice firm would put someone at an advantage, until it was pointed out to me that staff may not have the knowledge, confidence or skills to sort out their finances if they work in the HR department, for example.

In that feature, I spoke to Quayside Wealth Management and I was impressed at how the financial wellbeing programme they run for corporate clients is also made available to its own staff.

I know there are so many burdens on employers at the moment and that list of requirements seems to get bigger every year. But without the ability to attract and retain a good – and healthy – workforce, employers will have no businesses.

Enabling staff to tap into the education and guidance on offer to clients is a great idea that more firms should be thinking about.

Wealth “gatekeepers” have become less enthusiastic about direct lending than their institutional peers and now favour securitised products and asset-backed finance for income, according to the latest Schroders Global Investor Insights Survey 2025.

Michelle Russell-Dowe, co-head, private debt and credit alternatives at Schroders Capital, said that exposure to private debt and credit alternatives was the preferred option for those seeking income generation.

Read more: Schroders Capital raises €2bn for sub-IG infrastructure debt strategy

The survey found that 45 per cent of institutional investors and 43 per cent of gatekeepers are turning to these asset classes to provide income in their portfolios in the next 12 months.

In particular, infrastructure debt (63 per cent) and securitised credit (60 per cent) are “emerging as favoured opportunities in the current market” among those seeking risk-adjusted income, as direct lending “reaches saturation”, she said.

Russell-Dowe pointed to waning enthusiasm for direct lending among wealth gatekeepers (56 per cent) versus their institutional peers (73 per cent), although she added that the asset class is still perceived as a “valuable allocation option”.

She attributed the shift among gatekeepers to securitised products and asset-backed finance (64 per cent) and infrastructure debt (60 per cent) to these strategies’ potential to provide a stable income stream and capture risk premiums related to market inefficiencies.

As a result, “asset-backed and securitised finance strategies are central to managing volatility and capturing durable yield”, she noted.

Read more: Private debt investors eye asset-backed lending over the next year

“In an environment defined by uncertainty, inefficiency and volatile risk premiums, the ability to select well-collateralised debt, backed by strong borrowers and robust security packages, is a significant advantage of private debt and alternative credit markets,” said Russell-Dowe. 

“The ability to access diversifying and flexible income through the wide universe of securitised and asset-backed finance, defensive income through real asset debt, and uncorrelated income through insurance-linked securities, provides a valuable extension of the fixed income toolkit for investors.”

In the survey foreword, Johanna Kyrklund, group chief investment officer, observed a “reshaping” of income strategies, with investors “broadening their toolkit” by blending government bond exposures with private debt and credit alternatives.

Read more: Schroders Capital appoints global head of infrastructure

In a recent interview at Coinbase’s State of Crypto Summit, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chair shared the future of the agency’s crypto regulation under the pro-industry administration.

CFTC Won’t Criminalize Crypto

On Thursday, CFTC’s acting chair, Caroline Pham, told Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi that regulations won’t be easy on anybody, including the crypto industry, despite the end of the “regulation by enforcement” approach under the new administration.

Pham explained that “There is no easy street for anybody, and regulators aren’t easy,” adding that the agency’s shift toward a pro-innovation, pro-growth strategy doesn’t mean companies can bend the law and get away with it.

She clarified that the CFTC’s new approach won’t “twist the law to criminalize an asset class or a technology,” like the past administration. Instead, it will focus on catching fraudsters and scammers in the market. “That’s always been our core mission is to prevent fraud, manipulation, and abuse in our markets and to help victims,” Pham affirmed.

In the interview, the regulatory agency’s chair explained her previous comments about “uberizing crypto,” sharing that it means effectively integrating digital assets into daily life so that banning or criminalizing it becomes nearly impossible, like Uber did with the transportation industry.

“When something becomes so big, so accepted, so part of our lives, you can’t really take it away then. The public, the people, voters, they won’t let you,” she affirmed, noting that the ride-sharing app revolutionized the industry, which resulted in a lot of people unsuccessfully trying to fight it.

Pham considers that the “uberization” of the industry must be the goal to prevent crypto from being unfairly criminalized as a concept or a technology.  “The way that you do that is by bringing it to the people, and the people will speak, and voters will speak,” she stated.

Restoring Regulatory Clarity

Speaking about the previous administration, Pham noted that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC “really went beyond what the law says and what the statute says,” which has been a common criticism of the US watchdogs.

She condemned how the agency reinterpreted existing laws that applied to traditional markets to go after what they perceived as “bad or evil,” like crypto and blockchain technology, without considering the unintended consequences it could have on the global economy and global markets.

When we start to change the rules for (…) the 700 trillion notional global derivatives markets because we’re trying to be creative and flex it to go after what we perceive to be a bad or evil, you know, crypto or blockchain, that is really breaking the fabric of our global markets.

This is why “restoring the well-settled legal precedents, how the CFTC has applied and interpreted the law for decades, to restore that regulatory clarity” has been a priority under her leadership.

Notably, Pham has repeatedly called for regulatory clarity for the crypto industry, proposing to revive the joint advisory committee between the CFTC and the SEC.

Earlier this year, the regulatory agencies were reportedly discussing their options to effectively collaborate on digital assets regulations, after the launch of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce.

Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $105,047 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com

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In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning, with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.

For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include…