Two Crypto Billionaires Give UK's Reform Party a Record $97M

Crypto tycoons Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne donated £72M ($97M) to Nigel Farage's Reform UK in just two days — more than all UK parties raised last year.

Two extremely wealthy men who made their fortunes in the crypto industry have just handed a British political party the biggest political donations in the country's history — and they did it in just two days.

The party is Reform UK, led by well-known politician Nigel Farage. A political donation is simply money given to a political party to help it run campaigns, hire staff, and try to win elections.

Here are the key numbers:

Ben Delo (co-founder of the crypto trading platform BitMEX) gave £36 million on Friday — the largest single donation ever made to a British party.
Christopher Harborne (an investor in Tether, the company behind a popular "stablecoin") matched it the next day with another £36 million.
Together that's £72 million (about $97 million) — more than the roughly £69 million *all* UK parties collected in donations last year combined.

Delo says he'll effectively give £1 million a month until 2029, but he paid it all up front in case the government sets new limits on big donations. Harborne said his "competitive spirit" pushed him to match the gift, and claimed he expects "nothing, personally" in return.

Important detail: even though both men are crypto figures, these donations were *not* made in cryptocurrency. The UK banned crypto political donations in March, so the money was given as regular cash.

There's controversy around both donors:

Delo previously pleaded guilty to failing to prevent money laundering at BitMEX. (Money laundering means disguising where illegally-obtained money came from.) He was later pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Reform UK is currently under a criminal investigation over its funding — though not over these specific gifts. The probe involves allegations that some staff discussed ways to get around rules banning money from foreign donors.

Reform says the cash will fund policy experts and 400 campaign managers, adding the party is "now on election footing."

Bottom line: These record-breaking gifts show how crypto-made wealth is increasingly flowing into politics — and they're raising fresh questions about who funds political parties and why.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://decrypt.co/378107/crypto-billionaires-hand-reform-uk-97m-in-record-donations