Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party raised more money than its main rivals for the third quarter in a row, helped by big donations from billionaire crypto investors, according to data released by Britain’s Electoral Commission.
In the first quarter of the year, Christopher Harborne, a crypto investor who was born in Britain but is based in Thailand, gave the Reform just over £3 million ($4.03m), while Ben Delo, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, gave £4m.
Overall, the Reform raised £9.3m in the first three months of 2026, while the governing Labour Party raised £4m and the main opposition Conservative Party recorded donations of £4.2m. The figures exclude the public funding given to parties.
Farage, a veteran Brexit campaigner and friend of US President Donald Trump, is on a mission to professionalise the Reform UK and raise more money than rival parties before the next national election, due in 2029.
The Reform performed better than any other party in local elections across Britain last month and has topped every national opinion poll since early last year, making Farage a possible future prime minister.
However, its political success has also brought greater scrutiny of its funding sources, particularly its dependence on money from a smaller number of rich donors who live outside Britain.
The donations from Harborne and Delo were given before the governing Labour Party in March announced plans to ban donations in cryptocurrencies and cap political donations of British citizens living abroad at £100,000.
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