Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has secured an unprecedented influx of cash from two cryptocurrency billionaires, who together handed the party £72 million in the space of a day.
The gifts, each worth £36 million, rank as the largest individual donations ever recorded to a British political party.
Ben Delo, co-founder of the crypto exchange BitMEX, disclosed his contribution first.
The Sheffield-born entrepreneur, who recently returned to Britain from Hong Kong, said he wanted a “fair fight and a level playing field.”
He had planned to spread support at a rate of about £1 million a month until the latest possible date of the next general election in 2029, but chose to deliver the full sum immediately in case donation rules tighten further.
Hours later, Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based investor with a major stake in the stablecoin issuer Tether, matched the figure.
Harborne, already Reform’s most generous long-term backer, wrote that Delo’s announcement had stirred his “competitive spirit.”
He described the money as a philanthropic gift to the country and insisted he expected nothing in return—no honours, no policy favours—only a party prepared to govern.
Harborne had previously given Reform roughly £1 million a month and a record £9 million last year.
Farage called the pair’s confidence “honoured and humbled.”
He said the funds would let Reform contest the next election on equal terms and hire hundreds of campaign staff plus policy specialists.
The party said it was now on an “election footing.”
Combined, the two donations exceed the total private fundraising of every UK party in the previous year.
The windfall arrives amid intense scrutiny of Reform’s finances. Harborne earlier gave Farage a £5 million personal gift before the 2024 election; parliamentary standards officials are examining whether it should have been declared.
Police have also looked into aspects of the party’s funding.
Delo received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump last year after pleading guilty in the United States to anti-money-laundering violations at BitMEX.
Labour and other critics argue that such concentrated wealth from a narrow industry raises questions about influence, especially given Reform’s advocacy for lighter crypto regulation and lower capital-gains taxes on digital assets.
The government has already moved to cap donations from Britons living abroad at £100,000 a year. Both donors are understood to be on the UK electoral register.
Reform has long drawn a large share of its income from a handful of high-value supporters rather than a broad membership base.
Crypto-linked figures have accounted for a substantial portion of its receipts since 2024.
The latest gifts dwarf earlier contributions and give the party a war chest far larger than those of Labour or the Conservatives at this stage of the electoral cycle.
It now remains to be see if the money translates into organisational strength or simply fuels further debate over political finance remains to be seen. What is clear is that two of Britain’s richest crypto entrepreneurs have chosen to underwrite Farage’s bid for power on a scale never before seen in UK politics.