Crypto billionaires bankroll Nigel Farage’s pro-crypto party Tether-linked billionaire Christopher Harborne and BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo donated $9.4 million to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the first quarter.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK received 7 million British pounds ($9.4 million) from two crypto billionaires this year, with total funds raised outstripping all other political parties
The party received a $4 million donation from Christopher Harborne, who has a stake in the stablecoin issuer Tether, and a $5.4 million donation from Ben Delo, the co-founder of the crypto exchange BitMEX, according to Electoral Commission data released on Thursday. The Labour and Conservative parties each received around $5.4 million in the first quarter of the year. Reform UK has pitched itself as a pro-crypto party.
It was the first UK political party to accept donations in Bitcoin (BTC), and Farage has proposed cutting capital gains taxes on crypto from 24% to 10%. He has also called for the Bank of England to create a Bitcoin reserve. The crypto industry has been spending heavily on politics as it seeks to influence policy.