Key facts
- BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo donated £4 million to Reform UK in April.
- The donations were made in two separate cash payments.
- Delo's total contributions to Reform UK this year have reached £8 million.
- The £4 million donation comprised 75% of Reform UK's total donations for the quarter.
- BitMEX is scheduled to cease operations on September 23.
BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo has provided a substantial financial boost to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, donating an additional £4 million in April. Electoral Commission records reveal two cash payments, one on April 17 and another on April 30, which together accounted for 75% of the £5.33 million Reform UK accepted in donations during the quarter. This brings Delo's total contributions to the party this year to £8 million, positioning him as the second-largest donor after Christopher Harborne, a billionaire Tether investor.
The donations come at a time when Reform UK's funding is under increased scrutiny. New regulations require donors of over £100,000 annually to have been on the UK electoral register for 12 months. A Reform UK source expressed confidence that Delo's donations would not need to be returned, suggesting he may have met the registration criteria.
Notably, none of the funds were in cryptocurrency, following the UK's ban on such political donations in March. Delo himself has a history with regulatory issues, having pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act over anti-money laundering failures at BitMEX. He was later pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025. BitMEX itself is winding down operations and is set to close on September 23.
The significant donations land as Reform UK faces wider funding controversies. Two party officials, Dan Jukes and James Orr, resigned shortly before the party conference following a report by Channel 4 alleging attempts to secure funding from a fictitious U.S. company for party polling. Farage has denied the party took illegal money, attributing the incident to "loose pub talk" by unauthorized individuals and initiating an internal investigation. The Electoral Commission is liaising with the Metropolitan Police over the allegations, while the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is separately considering whether Farage should have declared Harborne's £5 million gift.