Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has emerged as the top fundraising political party in the UK after receiving £7 million ($9.4 million) from two prominent cryptocurrency billionaires this year.
According to data by the Electoral Commission, the party received a £3 million ($4 million) contribution from Christopher Harborne, an investor with ties to stablecoin issuer Tether, and a £4 million ($5.4 million) donation from Ben Delo, co-founder of the crypto exchange BitMEX.
By comparison, both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party each raised roughly $5.4 million during the first quarter of the year.
Reform UK has positioned itself as one of the most crypto-friendly political parties in Britain. The party became the first in the country to accept donations in Bitcoin, while Farage has advocated for reducing the crypto capital gains tax from 24% to 10%. He has also urged the Bank of England to establish a national Bitcoin reserve.
Delo Makes First Donation to Party
Reform UK continues to draw strong financial support, with crypto entrepreneur Ben Delo making his first donation to the party. The latest contribution from investor Christopher Harborne has pushed his total support for Reform UK over the past year to approximately $20 million.
Separately, Harborne previously provided Nigel Farage with a personal gift worth $6.7 million. The payment is now being examined by a parliamentary standards inquiry to determine whether it should have been officially disclosed.
Farage has maintained that the gift did not need to be declared because it was received before he became a member of parliament and was used to cover security costs. He has also stated that the money was given in recognition of his efforts during the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
The party’s fundraising momentum has accelerated sharply. Reform UK raised around $12 million in the first quarter of the year, a sixfold increase from the $2 million it collected during the same period in the previous year.
Fundraising activity increased across the political landscape as well, with total donations received by UK political parties more than doubling compared with the first quarter of last year.
