The cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network has announced it has filed for bankruptcy. Crypto lending has tumbled in the recent months following a crash in cryptocurrency prices and the collapse of major token TerraUSD in May. Celsius had paused withdrawals and transfers between accounts last month, blaming extreme market conditions. State securities regulators in New Jersey, Texas and Washington had stepped in to investigate the crypto lender’s decision. – Guardian
The railways will grind to a halt again on 27 July as staff stage another national strike in an ongoing dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. As many as 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at train companies and Network Rail will walk out for 24 hours on Wednesday 27 July, with two other rail unions also considering dates for industrial action. – Guardian
The next prime minister will have room to cut taxes without stoking inflation, Britain’s fiscal watchdog has said, in a boost for Tory leadership candidates who have pledged to reduce the burden on private industry. Tax cuts are less likely to drive prices higher because an economic slowdown appears to be taking hold, according to David Miles, a member of the Budget Responsibility Committee and a former Bank of England interest rate setter. – Telegraph
Some German households will be forced to heat their homes with wood instead of gas as Russia turns off the taps, according to dire warnings from analysts. Global shortages of gas worsened by Russia’s war on Ukraine have sent prices soaring, with many consumers cutting usage in response. – Telegraph
Newly qualified solicitors at a City law firm are to receive an annual salary of £179,000 after a 9 per cent pay rise to take account of sterling weakening against the dollar. Akin Gump, a US corporate practice with a London office, confirmed yesterday that it had boosted the salaries of its newly qualified solicitors by £15,000 from an already record-breaking level after its most recent quarterly review of currency conversion rates. It is expected that others among the group of more than 100 US law firms in the City will follow suit. – The Times
