Reform UK rakes in another £7 million in donations from crypto billionaires

Reform has cashed in on a further £7 million in donations from two billionaire crypto investors, the latest Electoral Commission figures reveal.

A sizable chunk of these donations came from Thailand-based crypto investor Christopher Harborne and Hong Kong-based Ben Delo, who co-founded a cryptocurrency trading platform.

Harborne donated another £3 million to Nigel Farage’s party in January, on top of the £12 million he donated in 2025.

Delo, who vowed to return from Hong Kong to the UK to donate to Reform after the government put a cap on donations from overseas at £100,000 a year, donated £2 million in January, and a further £2 million in March.

While receiving large sums from crypto investors, Reform has become the first political party to accept cryptocurrency donations, Farage has promoted Tether, the crypto firm Harborne has a 12% stake in, and committed to creating a state-owned bitcoin reserve.

Reform also received £1.1 million from David John Grainger, a partner at a life sciences venture capital firm called Medicxi. 

Donations to Reform far outstripped the sums of money donated to any other party. In the first quarter, Labour received the second largest amount of donations, amounting to £4 million.

The Lib Dems received just over £2 million in donations between January and March this year.

This comes after Lib Dem MP Roz Savage asked Keir Starmer to commit to a cap on political donations at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday. 

Starmer said in response: “We will do whatever is necessary to protect our democracy from foreign influence and dirty money.”

Referring to the undeclared £5 million gift that Farage received before running to become an MP, the PM added: “But the £5 million question still remains”

“Why is the leader of Reform dodging questions about his donations, and why did he keep it secret in the first place?”.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward