Two Crypto Billionaires Hand Reform UK £72m in 24 Hours
Reform UK has pulled in £72m in roughly 24 hours from two crypto billionaires — BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Thailand-based investor Christopher Harborne — the largest political donations in British history. The windfall lands as the Metropolitan Police probe foreign-funding allegations and Labour pushes a cap on overseas donor cash. For crypto, it marks the sector's biggest single leap into UK political influence.
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Crypto briefing
Key takeaways
- Reform UK has pulled in £72m in roughly 24 hours from two crypto billionaires — BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Thailand-based investor Christopher Harborne — the largest political donations in British history.
- The windfall lands as the Metropolitan Police probe foreign-funding allegations and Labour pushes a cap on overseas donor cash.
- For crypto, it marks the sector's biggest single leap into UK political influence.
- Huffpost Uk
- Ben Wright (gb)
In this briefing
Mentioned
Key Intelligence
Key Facts
- 1Reform UK received two £36m donations in roughly 24 hours — a combined £72m from crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, the largest political donations in UK history.
- 2Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto investor, had already given Reform £9m in August 2025 — then the biggest single donation to a UK political party by a living person.
- 3Harborne also gave Farage a £5m cash gift ahead of the 2024 election, now under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner for non-declaration.
- 4Ben Delo, a BitMEX co-founder, was pardoned by Donald Trump last year after a conviction for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act.
- 5The Metropolitan Police are investigating whether pre-election payments to Reform, including from Fiona Cottrell and a Richard Tice-controlled company, breached foreign donation laws.
- 6The government's Representation of the People Bill would bar returning overseas voters from giving more than £100,000 in their first year back; its Lords second reading is set for 14 September 2026.
Two crypto billionaires — Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne — each gave a record £36m
My competitive spirit inspired me to match it, so that is what I've done. And I hope others may join us.
Announcing his £36m donation in The Daily Telegraph
Analysis
For the crypto industry, the Reform UK funding story is not a Westminster curiosity — it is the clearest signal yet that crypto-generated wealth is now a decisive force in G7 politics. Two crypto billionaires, BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Bangkok-based investor Christopher Harborne, each wrote £36m cheques within hours of one another, racing to bank cash before Labour's overseas-donation cap closes the door. Yet the same donors bring regulatory baggage — a Bank Secrecy Act conviction and Trump pardon for Delo, an undeclared £5m gift probe for Harborne — showing that crypto's political ascent comes with enforcement scrutiny attached.
Reform UK's finances crossed a historic threshold on 11 September 2026, when Thailand-based crypto investor Christopher Harborne announced a £36 million donation to the party — matching, within hours, an identical £36 million gift from fellow crypto billionaire Ben Delo. Together the two transfers delivered £72 million to Reform in roughly a single day, the largest political donations in modern British history. They eclipse the £10 million legacy bequest that had stood as the Conservative Party's benchmark, and they dwarf Harborne's own £9 million single donation from August 2025, which at the time was the largest gift to a UK political party by a living person. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Harborne described the money as 'a philanthropic gift to our country' and conceded the rivalry behind it: 'My competitive spirit inspired me to match it, so that is what I've done. And I hope others may join us.' The matching donations mean Harborne retains his position as Reform's largest individual donor, having now funnelled tens of millions into the party and, separately, £5 million directly to its leader.
Two crypto billionaires, BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Bangkok-based investor Christopher Harborne, each wrote £36m cheques within hours of one another, racing to bank cash before Labour's overseas-donation cap closes the door.
The cash arrives at the most volatile moment for UK political funding in decades. Last week the Metropolitan Police announced an investigation into whether Reform breached foreign donation laws, following a Channel 4 News broadcast. Detectives are examining payments made directly to the party by Fiona Cottrell — mother of longstanding Farage ally George Cottrell — in the weeks before the July 2024 general election, as well as £1 million that a company controlled by Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice received from Cottrell in June 2024. In parallel, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is investigating whether Farage should have declared the £5 million cash gift Harborne gave him ahead of that election. Farage insists the gift was 'purely private' and unconnected to his parliamentary or political activities, and therefore did not require registration.
What makes this funding surge distinctive is its provenance: both donors are crypto billionaires, and their money is the clearest demonstration yet that digital-asset wealth has become a decisive force in British politics. Delo co-founded the derivatives exchange BitMEX and, after a conviction for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act, received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump in 2025. He returned to the UK from Hong Kong specifically to avoid a proposed cap on donations from overseas voters. Harborne, a Bangkok-based investor with interests spanning crypto and aviation, has become the party's largest financial backer while also directing money to Farage personally. For the crypto sector, the episode is double-edged: it proves the industry can now buy influence at the very top of a G7 democracy, but it also reinforces the narrative — built through FTX, BitMEX prosecutions and global money-laundering enforcement — that crypto fortunes attract regulatory attention wherever they surface.
What to Watch
The timing is not coincidental. Labour's Representation of the People Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Lords on Monday 14 September 2026, would stop overseas voters who move to the UK from donating more than £100,000 during their first year of residence. Delo cited the threat of a broader cap on all political donations as the reason he converted a planned schedule of £1 million a month into a single lump sum. Harborne's instant matching suggests Reform's crypto donors are deliberately front-running the legislation, banking the maximum before the rules tighten. A Labour spokesperson responded that Farage is 'still up to his neck in scandal' and that 'the questions he faces aren't going away — in fact they're piling up,' previewing how the opposition intends to weaponise the donors' criminal and regulatory histories in the campaign to come.
Three questions will determine the fallout. First, whether the Metropolitan Police investigation yields charges that could taint Reform's newly enlarged war chest, and whether the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner rules against Farage on the £5 million gift. Second, whether the Lords passes the Representation of the People Bill intact and whether donors find workarounds — Harborne's stated habit of roughly £1 million monthly gifts could continue below any future per-donation threshold. Third, and most significant for crypto, whether the spectacle of two crypto billionaires buying record influence in a G7 democracy accelerates the push, in the UK and beyond, to regulate not just digital assets but the political use of digital-asset wealth. Reform's supporters will read the £72 million as proof the party can now outspend its rivals; its critics will read it as evidence that UK funding rules were written for an era before crypto fortunes existed. Either interpretation points to the same conclusion: the intersection of crypto money and Westminster has crossed a threshold that is unlikely to be reversed.
Timeline
Timeline
Farage elected MP; £5m Harborne gift comes under scrutiny
Harborne's £5m cash gift to Farage, made ahead of the July 2024 general election, becomes the subject of a Parliamentary Standards Commissioner investigation over non-declaration.
Harborne gives £9m to Reform UK
The single donation was the largest to a UK political party by a living person at the time.
Police open funding probe; MPs back donation caps
The Metropolitan Police announce an investigation into foreign-funding allegations following a Channel 4 News report, and MPs back measures including a cap on overseas donations.
Ben Delo gives £36m record donation
BitMEX co-founder and Trump-pardoned crypto billionaire Ben Delo donates £36m, eclipsing the £10m Conservative legacy as the largest political donation on record.
Harborne matches with £36m
Christopher Harborne matches Delo's record donation hours later, announcing it in The Daily Telegraph and keeping his position as Reform's largest donor.
Lords second reading of Representation of the People Bill
The bill, including a £100,000 first-year limit on donations from returning overseas voters, has its second reading.
Source cluster
Primary reporting
- Ben Wright (gb)Reform receives record £36m donation from crypto billionaire
Cite This Page
"Two Crypto Billionaires Hand Reform UK £72m in 24 Hours." Crypto Intelligence Brief, September 13, 2026. https://getcryptobrief.com/story/reform-uk-crypto-billionaires-72m-donations
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