Nigel Farage’s party received large donations totalling almost £15m in the first six months of this year, according to Electoral Commission records, including millions of pounds from a crypto billionaire who was pardoned by Donald Trump last year.
Reform’s fundraising operations continue to prove highly effective in spite of its ongoing scandals. The party is amassing a massive financial war chest ahead of the next general election, which many in Westminster believe could take place as soon as next autumn.
The latest donations data comes as Reform suspends two senior aides pending an investigation, after an undercover sting exposed their alleged role in facilitating secret donations, including from impermissible donors overseas. Rival parties said they have reported Reform to the police, while the Electoral Commission said it is “considering all relevant information” and is “in touch with the Met Police”. Reform has denied any wrongdoing.
The events have overshadowed the party’s conference in Birmingham this weekend, and are the latest in a series of scandals the party has faced over its funding this year. In July, openDemocracy travelled to Montenegro to investigate the lives and business interests of key Reform allies and donors, including ‘Posh George’ Cottrell and billionaire crypto investor Christopher Harborne, in the glamorous coastal resort of Tivat.
At the same time, a number of news reports raised serious questions about Cottrell and Farage, after The Sunday Times reported the Clacton MP had failed to disclose in-kind support from the 32-year-old convicted fraudster. The allegations led to calls for an investigation by parliamentary authorities, which were already probing a £5m gift that Farage allegedly failed to declare having received from Harborne.
Reform’s crypto funding
The latest data shows Reform continues to bring in significantly more from large donations than the other parties: £5.3m in the second quarter of 2026, compared to £3.6m for Labour and £2.8m for the Conservatives.
That brings the party’s total donations this year to almost £15m, meaning it has accepted almost twice as much as Labour (£8m) and more than double the Conservatives (£7m).
Reform receives the vast majority of its funding from a small number of high-value donors, with Harborne, a crypto investor based in Thailand, by far the party’s most significant donor to date.
Now, the party has added another crypto billionaire with offshore links to its ranks of mega donors; Sheffield-born Ben Delo gave the party £4m in April, following two £2m donations in January and March.
British crypto entrepreneur Delo has rapidly become one of Reform UK’s largest individual donors, having given the party £8m across the first half of 2026 – £4m in each quarter. If he continues this trend throughout the rest of the year, he could surpass Harborne’s current total.
Delo is one of many Reform donors with strong interests in the crypto sector. He was a software engineer at IBM and later built high-frequency trading systems at JPMorgan and GSA Capital in Hong Kong, before co-founding cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX. In 2020, US federal authorities charged the BitMEX founders with violating the Bank Secrecy Act over inadequate anti-money-laundering controls; Delo pleaded guilty in 2022, paid a $10m penalty and served 30 months' probation, which ended in December 2024. Trump pardoned him in March 2025.
Delo’s latest donations come after the government imposed a £100,000 cap on donations from overseas residents in March 2026. At the time, Delo said he would move back to the UK to sidestep the restriction, and he has reportedly signalled plans to keep funding the party from Britain going forward.
Big finance and former Tories
Reform also continues to add new donors with interests in the financial sector. Over the past year, senior figures in the party have engaged with lobbyists in the City of London, seeking both policy ideas and financial support.
Lucas Bitencourt, a young finance entrepreneur, gave the party £100,000, while private equity firm Bryden Capital gave £50,000 and a Jersey financial adviser who works with “the world’s first bitcoin investment fund” gave £25,000.
A Scottish corporate lawyer specialising in private equity and technology continues to provide funding, giving £100,000 in May. He has now given the party £300,000 in total.
An investment firm linked to Chelsea owner Todd Boehly – a significant donor to conservative politics in the US – also gave the party £75,000.
Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, also received a significant donation after defecting to the party from the Conservatives. Jenrick received XX from a donor with ties to financial services and crypto, Michael Cohen of Capital Group, an investment firm that the Wall Street Journal last year reported was “ploughing billions into crypto”.
Three former Tory donors continue to make up a significant portion of Reform’s funding base: Bassim Haidar, Johan Christofferson and Roger Nagioff all contributed six-figure sums in recent months and have now given over a million between them since the last election. Excluding Harborne, who gave Boris Johnson £1m in 2022, former Tory donors have given Reform over £3m since the 2024 vote.
