A Thailand-based crypto investor and former Conservative donor has handed a record-breaking £9 million to Reform UK, as its leader Nigel Farage backed his company and called for deregulation of the currency, telling an industry conference earlier this year that "I am your champion".

Read our Digital & Print Editions

And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

British-born Christopher Harbone previously funded Farage's attendance at Donald Trump's second inauguration, donated more than £13 million to the Brexit Party and was a key backer of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

He is also a key investor in the crypto firm Tether, dealing in Stablecoins. His £9 million donation to Reform, made in August and reported by the Electoral Commision on Thursday, is the largest ever by a living UK donor.

Farage used an appearance on LBC's Nick Ferrari show in September to back Harborne's company, saying that Tether, "is about to be valued as a $500 billion company" and urged the UK to "embrace" it and become a "global trading centre" in Stablecoin.

Boris Johnson and Alexander Lebedev Must Be Investigated in a New Public Inquiry into Russian Influence

If you think the Gill conviction is bad, linking the Reform UK Party leader's closest aide to the Kremlin, wait till you hear about another Leave campaigner and his connections to Putin's inner circle

Peter Jukes

The Reform leader's promotion of the crypto industry and Tether came one day after Bloomberg reported that the firm was seeking to raise up to $20 billion in order to value the El Salvador-based firm at around $500 billion.

Farage also used his LBC appearance to accuse the Bank of England of being "dinosaurs" for seeking to place restrictions on the use of the Stablecoins used by Tether.

"The Governor of the Bank of England earlier this week indicated that nobody, no individual, should be allowed to have more than £10,000 pounds worth of stablecoins, to which some of my friends have said, 'should we just emigrate'?" he said.

Farage did not state which friends he was referring to, nor did he declare the financial interest of his biggest single political donor.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday Farage said that he did speak to Harborne regularly but that he wants "absolutely nothing in return" for his donation.

The Reform leader told the Digital Asset Summit in London in October that he plans to create a state-owned bitcoin reserve and bring forward a crypto bill deregulating the industry, including slashing taxes on the sector.

"When it comes to your industry, when it comes to growth in this industry, then I am your champion," he told the conference.

"We will effectively bring crypto in from the cold."

Reform UK is the first political party to accept crypto donations.

Byline Times reported earlier this year on growing concerns that a loophole in UK electoral law could allow parties to large sums in anonymous donations via cryptocurrencies, potentially allowing breaches of laws banning foreign funding of political parties.

Reports this week suggest that Keir Starmer's Government is considering banning all such donations.

Democracy campaigners said that Harborne's donation to Reform raised the need for a cap on donations.

"This record-breaking donation shows how dependent our political parties have become on a super-rich few," Rose Zussman, Senior Policy Manager at Transparency International UK said.

"When single donations reach these extraordinary levels, it reinforces the public's belief that money talks loudest in the corridors of power.

"The Government has promised to protect democracy by strengthening the rules on political finance. If ministers don't want our democracy sold to the highest bidder they should introduce a cap on how much anyone can give annually."

Daily Mail Owner's Wife Donates £50,000 to Reform

The latest donation figures show that Reform also received £50,000 from the wife of the Daily Mail's ...