Farage’s Reform UK gets biggest donation ever from crypto billionaire: Reports

NEW: BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo donates \u00a336m ($49m) to Nigel Farage's Reform UK \u2014 the biggest donation ever made to a British political party, paid upfront to avoid being blocked.

Thirty six million pounds. The biggest political donation in British history, and it came from crypto.

Ben Delo, co-founder of the BitMEX exchange, just handed Nigel Farage's Reform UK forty nine million dollars. He says it's to ensure a fair fight at the polls. Farage says he's honoured and humbled, which is Farage for absolutely delighted.

Now the detail that tells you everything. The Telegraph says the plan was a million pounds a month until the 2029 election, but Delo paid the whole thing up front, specifically so nobody could block it. Because Labour MPs have been pushing to make a moratorium on crypto donations permanent, after Farage's earlier donor scandal forced him out of Parliament and into a by-election he won anyway.

And remember, Delo pleaded guilty to US federal charges in 2022, paid a ten million dollar fine, then got a pardon from Donald Trump last year. That man now bankrolls a British political party. Every regulator in Westminster just felt their weekend end early.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.