Two cryptocurrency investors reveal plans to donate £72 million in political funds to UK Reform Party

British and American media reported on the 12th (local time) that two cryptocurrency investors decided to donate a total of 72 million pounds (130 billion won) as political funds to the right-wing Reform UK party.

According to reports, Ben Dello, co-founder of cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, announced in an article in the Daily Telegraph on the 11th that he plans to donate 36 million pounds (65 billion won) to help the British Reform Party break the 'cartel' between the Labor Party and the Conservative Party.

The three co-founders of BitMEX, including Dello, pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in the United States in 2022 and were pardoned by President Donald Trump last year.

Dello, who recently moved from Hong Kong to the UK, explained that this amount is equivalent to providing 1 million pounds (1.8 billion won) per month to the British Reform Party from this month until August 2029, when the next general election is likely to be held.

At the same time, Dello announced that he was giving this amount as a lump sum in preparation for the ruling Labor Party, which dominates the National Assembly, attempting to block the funding of rival political parties such as the British Reform Party by pushing for the Representation of the People Bill.

Dello claimed that the purpose of this bill is to tighten the financial constraints of the opposition party, and that this is an extremely anti-democratic act.

He argued that if the Labor Party passes this bill, it should limit the political funds it receives from labor unions, and criticized the Labor Party's push for this bill as effectively an attempt to commit election fraud if it does not do so.

The next day, on the 12th, Christopher Harborn, a dual citizen of the UK and Thailand who lives in Thailand, runs a cryptocurrency business, and holds a significant stake in the stablecoin company Tether, announced in an article in the Telegraph that he would follow Delo's example and donate the same 36 million pounds as political funds to the British Reform Party.

The amount that Dello and Harbon each decided to donate is the largest record in British political donation history.

The previous record was 10 million pounds (18.1 billion won) received by the Conservative Party in 2023 through the will of businessman Baron John Sainsbury (1927-2022), who was a member of the House of Lords for his party.

According to the British Election Commission, the total amount of political funds donated by all political parties in the UK in 2025 is 64.8 million pounds (117.7 billion won), which is less than the amount paid by Delo and Harbon to the British Reform Party this time.

Nigel Farage, leader of the British Reform Party, posted on social media

However, Lisa Smart, a spokeswoman for Britain's third largest party, the Liberal Democratic Party, criticized, saying, "Nigel Farage is trying to bring Trump's America to our country by buying power with money."

The British Reform Party has recently been under investigation and investigation due to suspicions regarding political funds, and in relation to this, there is controversy over whether the donation qualifications and details of the political funds previously provided by Delo and Habon as overseas residents were properly verified and disclosed.

British police announced on the 9th that they had opened an investigation into political funding.

According to British election law, British political parties can only receive political donations from British voters or companies registered in the United Kingdom.

Two aides to party leader Nigel Farage have been suspended and are under police investigation after media reported conversations appearing to discuss how to illegally receive political funding from foreign donors.

In addition, Farage is currently being investigated by the British Parliament's House of Commons Ethics Investigation Office for allegedly failing to report 5 million pounds (9.1 billion won) he personally received from Harbon just before announcing his intention to return to politics in 2024.

Farage is claiming that this money is exempt from the application of campaign finance laws, saying it is a personal gift with no conditions attached and has nothing to do with politics.

According to the American daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the British Reform Party was the party with the highest approval rating in opinion polls for about a year and a half before suspicions of political funding arose recently, and has maintained second place after the ruling Labor Party even after its approval rating fell due to the suspicions.