The UK plans to tighten political donation rules, which may restrict crypto billionaires' donations to the Reform UK party.

The UK government has unveiled a new political donation reform plan, proposing to extend the £100,000 cap on overseas donations to the first year after a donor becomes a UK resident, and raise scrutiny standards for corporate political donations to further restrict foreign funds flowing into UK politics. The new rules build on the March ban on crypto political donations and are expected to be submitted to Parliament for final review next week. Analysts believe the new rules may impact the political donation capacity of Reform UK’s key crypto industry backers. Among them, Christopher Harborne—an investor holding approximately 12% of Tether’s equity—has donated around £12 million to Reform UK and is registered as a UK voter; Ben Delo, co-founder of BitMEX, has donated roughly £4 million and stated he plans to return to the UK to settle, meaning his political donations in the first year after his return will likely be subject to the £100,000 cap. Reports note that the relevant donations were not made in cryptocurrency, and Reform UK stated all donations comply with current regulations. Meanwhile, party leader Nigel Farage is facing further investigation over alleged failure to declare non-cash support provided by supporter George Cottrell.