BitMEX Co-Founder Ben Delo Gives Reform UK £4 Million…

Crypto entrepreneur and BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo donated £4 million to Britain's Reform UK during the second quarter, accounting for roughly three-quarters of the £5.3 million the party raised between April and June.

That total put Reform ahead of the governing Labour Party, which took in £3.6 million excluding public funds, and the opposition Conservatives at £2.8 million. It was nevertheless a slowdown for Reform, which had collected more than £9 million in each of the two previous quarters. Stripping out Delo's contribution, the party would have raised only about £1.3 million over the period.

Delo, who had been living in Hong Kong, said earlier this year that he was returning to Britain and becoming involved in politics because he wanted to "save Britain before decline becomes irreversible." He is best known as a co-founder of BitMEX, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that helped expand leveraged crypto trading and perpetual futures. He pleaded guilty in the United States in 2022 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act after prosecutors accused BitMEX of failing to maintain required anti-money laundering safeguards, and was later pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Harborne absent from the quarter

Reform reported no donations in the quarter from Christopher Harborne, another crypto entrepreneur and previously the party's largest donor. Harborne is British-born and based in Thailand, and his absence comes as the British government moves to tighten rules on political donations by citizens living abroad, with plans announced this year to cap contributions from overseas-based British citizens at £100,000. Harborne is also part of a separate funding dispute involving Reform leader Nigel Farage: reports this year said he gave Farage £5 million in 2024 that was not declared as a political donation, and parliamentary officials are investigating whether it should have been. Farage denies wrongdoing and argues the money was a personal gift.

Reform holds only eight seats in parliament, but its fundraising has let it compete financially with Britain's largest parties. The party led opinion polling for much of the past two years before the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his replacement by Andy Burnham in July improved Labour's standing. Farage stepped down from parliament and won re-election last month, though he could face another contest if officials determine parliamentary rules were broken.

For the digital asset industry, the figures underline how crypto wealth is moving into mainstream political financing — and how concentrated that funding can be. Large donations of this kind are likely to draw closer attention from lawmakers, regulators and voters to the ties between industry executives and the parties that will shape future financial regulation.