Two crypto billionaires gave Nigel Farage’s Reform UK about $100 million, reshaping Britain’s political funding debate
Reform UK, the party led by Nigel Farage, received two donations worth roughly $100 million over two days from crypto billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo. The money arrived as Farage was already facing scrutiny over an earlier undeclared gift linked to Harborne and as British authorities examined whether party figures discussed ways around rules on overseas campaign funding. The scale of the donations is unusual in the U.K., where campaign finance is far smaller than in the U.S. Ben Delo’s contribution of about $48.7 million was described as the largest single political donation in British history, and Harborne matched it a day later. The donations have intensified questions about whether British politics is becoming more dependent on ultra-wealthy backers with fortunes built abroad, including in crypto. The report also tracks how Harborne built a major stake in Tether after the 2016 Bitfinex hack and how Delo, a BitMEX co-founder pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025, has tied his donation to a broader campaign against political correctness. At the same time, a Labour proposal to cap certain donations at £100,000 a year could force Reform UK to return most of £72 million if the donors are found to have been overseas residents before the cutoff date.
