Revealed: Reform rakes in £20m in donations from crypto investors

Nigel Farage ’s Reform UK has received £20m in donations from cryptocurrency investors since the general election, The Independent can reveal.

An analysis of Electoral Commission data shows that a staggering 60 per cent of the right-wing eurosceptic group’s funding comes from wealthy individuals associated with the digital currency since the beginning of 2024.

The largest donations, totalling £15m, came from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, whose separate undeclared donation of £5m directly to Mr Farage is the subject of a parliamentary probe.

Other donors include Ben Peter Delo, the founder of cryptocurrency trading platform BitMex, who gave two £2m payments to the party this year and Maria Rost, the wife of US crypto investor John Rost, who has given nine payments worth £125,000.

Simon William Smith, a London-based bitcoin investor who founded a company which allows content creators to sell their content in exchange for Bitcoin, donated £116,000 ahead of the general election in 2024. Oscar Townsley, the founder of Bitcoin derivatives trading firm A1X, gave the party £30,000 last year.

By comparison, the Conservative Party received £82,250 in donations from Alan Eldad Howard, a hedge fund manager and crypto investor. The Independent did not identify any such donations for Labour, Lib Dems or the Green Party.

A Reform UK spokesman said: “Reform takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations and always ensures that the Electoral Commission guidelines on donations, as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, are strictly followed, as has been the case with all donations.”

The revelations will pile further pressure on Mr Farage, who was re-elected as Clacton MP earlier this month after he dramatically quit in protest at intense scrutiny over Mr Harborne’s £5m donation, which he insists was a a personal gift.

Bridget Phillipson, chair of the Labour Party, told The Independent : “Nigel Farage has spent the summer battling a bin in a desperate attempt to dodge scrutiny but people have a right to know what he’s hiding.

“He secretly took a £5m ‘gift’ from a Thai-based crypto billionaire and then promised to cut taxes for the crypto industry.

“Now it seems his party is awash with crypto cash. Farage is treating the public with contempt. With donations from a convicted fraudster and police probes into Reform’s donors and finances – it’s clear they think the rules are for other people."

Labour has taken a strict stance on cryptocurrency, with Sir Keir Starmer imposing a temporary ban on cryptocurrency donations and a cap on donations from Britons living abroad to political parties as part of a wider government review into electoral interference.