Trump-pardoned crypto tycoon pledges record £36m to Reform UK

The British cryptocurrency billionaire Ben Delo has pledged a record-breaking £36 million to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, giving the populist party an unprecedented financial war chest as it tries to prepare for the next general election.

The donation, which Delo plans to pay at a rate of £1 million a month, is the largest single contribution in British political history. It easily eclipses the previous record of £10 million left to the Conservative party by the late supermarket tycoon John Sainsbury, who died in 2022.

Delo, the co-founder of the trillion-dollar crypto trading platform BitMEX, is a highly controversial figure. In 2022, he pleaded guilty in the United States to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement sufficient anti-money laundering controls at his firm. He paid a civil fine but was later pardoned by Donald Trump.

The £36 million pledge comes on top of £8 million Delo has already given to Reform UK this year in two separate £4 million instalments.

Writing in the Telegraph, Delo said he wanted to ensure a "fair fight" between Reform and the UK’s two main political parties, the governing Labour Party and the opposition Conservatives.

A lifeline after a bruising few weeks

The money arrives as Reform attempts to recover from a bruising few weeks. The party’s support in opinion polls has slipped recently following a series of controversies. Earlier this month, an undercover investigation led to the suspension of two senior aides to Farage over allegations that they broke electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling.

Delo addressed these struggles directly, writing that his conclusion from the party's recent difficulties was that "they should spend less time trying to raise funds... and more time preparing for government."

"Reform are making serious plans for government, which is more than Labour did before they won in 2024," Delo wrote. "It takes time to develop thought-through policies and draft legislation, and it takes real money."

Farage welcomed the extraordinary financial backing, saying he was "honoured and humbled" by Delo's confidence in the party. "Ben knows that we are the only party that can turn the country around and reverse Britain's decline," Farage said.

Navigating the donor rules

Delo, an Oxford graduate who is currently in the process of moving back to the UK from Hong Kong, had previously faced scrutiny over whether his donations would run afoul of new British political funding rules. Under regulations introduced in March, overseas donors must be on the UK domestic electoral register for at least 12 months to avoid an annual donation cap of £100,000.

However, sources within Reform UK have insisted they are confident that Delo's donations are entirely compliant and will not have to be returned, suggesting he has been on the domestic register for longer than previously assumed.

Delo has described himself as a free-speech champion and supports dozens of organizations across the political spectrum. Explaining his turn to populist politics, he wrote that he felt compelled to act because "the biggest obstacle to national recovery is the entrenched self-deception of our elites."

He also cited his perspective as someone on the autism spectrum, stating that he disliked how "the official culture of government now forces everyone to be chronically dishonest," pointing specifically to mainstream views on transgender issues.