Crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne have made the largest political donations in British history, giving a combined £72 million ($97 million) to Nigel Farage's Reform UK. The massive fiat currency contributions bypass the UK's March 2026 ban on direct cryptocurrency donations. In response, Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner warned that proposed legislation capping large donations could apply retroactively, while Reform UK faces ongoing police and parliamentary scrutiny over its funding.
Record Reform UK donations
- ▪Reform UK stated that the £72 million in funding will be used to hire policy experts and employ 400 campaign managers across target electoral seats
- ▪The combined £72 million ($97 million) donated by Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne represents the largest political contribution in British history, exceeding the total private donations raised by all UK political parties in 2025
- ▪BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Tether investor Christopher Harborne each donated £36 million to Reform UK on consecutive days in September 2026
BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo
- ▪Ben Delo co-founded the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX, which previously faced regulatory scrutiny from United States authorities regarding anti-money laundering compliance
- ▪Ben Delo pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, paid a $10 million fine in 2022, and received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump in March 2025
- ▪Ben Delo stated that he paid his £36 million donation up front to prevent the contribution from being blocked by potential future government caps on large political donations
Tether investor Christopher Harborne
- ▪Christopher Harborne has contributed at least £15 million to Reform UK since the last general election, including a £9 million donation in August 2025
- ▪Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based investor in stablecoin issuer Tether, matched Ben Delo's donation on September 12, 2026, citing his own competitive spirit
Labour retroactive legislation response
- ▪Reform UK asserted that the £36 million donations from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne complied fully with British political funding laws as they existed at the time of the transactions
- ▪Labour Party Deputy Leader Angela Rayner stated that proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Bill, designed to prevent wealthy individuals from buying political influence, may apply retroactively to the donations
UK crypto donation moratorium
- ▪Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne made their September 2026 donations in fiat currency rather than cryptocurrency, technically placing the transactions outside the scope of the March 2026 crypto donation ban
- ▪The UK government imposed a full moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to political parties in March 2026, following recommendations from the Rycroft Review regarding foreign interference risks
Reform UK funding investigations
- ▪The Metropolitan Police opened an inquiry on September 8, 2026, into allegations that Reform UK aides discussed bypassing bans on foreign political funding, folding it into an existing probe of pre-election payments
- ▪The UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is investigating whether Nigel Farage should have declared a separate £5 million personal gift from Christopher Harborne
Debatable claims
- ▪The UK should retroactively apply donation caps to block Reform UK's £72 million gifts
- ▪The UK should ban political donations derived from cryptocurrency wealth
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