BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo donated £4 million to Reform UK in April, accounting for 72% of the party's Q2 donations. The exchange is closing on September 23.
Ben Delo, a co-founder of BitMEX, donated £4 million to Reform UK in April. That sum represented 72% of all donations the party declared for the second quarter.
The Electoral Commission released the register on Wednesday, showing that Delo's contribution came in two cash payments. Both were far larger than any other political gift in the UK during that quarter.
According to the Electoral Commission, a £1 million payment was received on April 17, and another £3 million followed on April 30. The party credited each donation the following day.
Reform UK reported 40 donations totaling £5.55 million. Without Delo's contribution, the largest single donation was £180,000.
🇬🇧 The donation data for United Kingdom got refreshed:
— DonationWatch (@donation_watch) September 3, 2026
– Reform UK +£5.6M (+40 donations)
– Conservative Party +£4.2M (+188 donations)
– Labour +£3.6M (+94 donations)
and 18 other parties +£4.1M (+334 donations)#unitedkingdom #donationshttps://t.co/JzP78tV7FQ
Nationally, no other donor matched that scale. The largest single donation to Labour was £550,000, from Lord David Sainsbury.
Delo's support is not new. He donated £2 million in January and another £2 million in March. So far this year, his contributions to Reform UK amount to £8 million.
The change is that another donor stopped. Christopher Harborne, Reform's other crypto-linked mega-donor, contributed £3 million in January but is absent from the Q2 register.
Without Harborne, Reform's total donations dropped from £9.94 million to £5.55 million, a 44% decline over three months. Nigel Farage has already faced questions about crypto lobbying rules in Parliament.
In March, the UK government announced a ban on crypto asset donations. A £100,000 limit on foreign donors was introduced in July, applying for a full calendar year to anyone relocating back to the UK.
Because Delo paid in cash, neither regulation affects his contributions. In 2022, US prosecutors described him as residing between Britain and Hong Kong.
The cryptocurrency exchange that generated his wealth is shutting down. BitMEX will cease operations on September 23 at 04:00 UTC. The owner, HDR Global Trading Limited, decided to close in July following a strategic review.
In February 2022, Delo pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act violation. BitMEX had failed to implement adequate customer verification. He was fined $10 million and later pardoned by Donald Trump in March 2025.
Reform UK's next donation register is due in November. It will reveal whether the party can secure significant funding without Delo.
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BitMEX founder Ben Delo has donated another £4 million to the UK's Reform Party, bringing his total to £8 million. The party also faces a scandal over illegal…