In brief
- BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo gave Reform UK £36 million on Friday, the largest single donation in British political history.
- Tether investor Christopher Harborne matched it a day later, saying his “competitive spirit” prompted him.
- The £72 million exceeds the roughly £69 million all UK parties took in donations last year.
Two crypto billionaires have given Nigel Farage's Reform UK £72 million ($97 million) in two days, more than every British party raised last year combined.
BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo went first, announcing £36 million in the Telegraph on Friday, the biggest single donation ever made to a British party and more than four times the £8 million he had already given this year.
He is giving the equivalent of £1 million a month until the latest date Labour could call an election in 2029, but paying up front in case the government caps large donations.
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Harborne matches Delo's donation
Christopher Harborne, the Thailand-based Tether investor who has given Reform £15 million since the last election, matched it Saturday. His “competitive spirit” prompted it, he wrote in the Telegraph, adding that he expected “nothing, personally”.
Reform said the money would hire “the brightest and best minds to work on policy” and 400 campaign managers, one per target seat. The party is “now on election footing,” a spokesman said.
Neither of Delo and Harborne's most recent donations, nor their previous ones, were made in crypto. Britain banned crypto political donations in March.
The donations land as the government weighs tighter rules. There is no limit on what UK-based donors can give, though Labour has capped gifts from Britons living overseas at £100,000 and plans the same for recent returnees. Since March, donors have needed 12 months on the electoral register to give more than £100,000 a year. Sheffield-born Delo says he will return from Hong Kong.
Both men have drawn scrutiny before. U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Delo in 2025, three years after the BitMEX founder pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering failures at the exchange, while the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is weighing whether Farage should have declared a £5 million personal gift from Harborne.