BitMEX Co-Founder Funded Reform UK Before Shutting Down the Exchange

BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo gave Reform UK £4 million in April, effectively supplying 72% of everything the party declared for the second quarter.

The Electoral Commission published the register on Wednesday, showing that Delo sent the money as two cash payments. Both dwarf every other gift in British politics that quarter.

Seven Pounds in Every Ten Came From Delo

Commission records show £1 million arrived on April 17. Another £3 million followed on April 30. Reform banked each payment the next day.

The party declared 40 donations worth £5.55 million in total. Take Delo out and the largest was £180,000.

No other donor came close nationally. Labour’s biggest single gift was £550,000, from Lord David Sainsbury.

Reform Lost Its Other Crypto Backer

Delo is not new money. He gave £2 million in January and £2 million in March. His donations to Reform UK now total £8 million this year.

What changed is who stopped writing cheques. Christopher Harborne, the party’s other crypto-linked mega-donor, gave £3 million in January. He appears nowhere in the Q2 register.

Reform’s income fell with him, from £9.94 million to £5.55 million. That is a 44% drop in three months. Farage has already faced questions over crypto lobbying rules in Parliament.

Cash Slips Past the Crypto Donation Ban

Britain announced a ban on crypto asset donations in March. July brought a £100,000 cap on overseas donors. It holds for a full calendar year over anyone moving back to the UK.

Delo paid in cash, so neither rule touches his money. US prosecutors listed him in 2022 as living between Britain and Hong Kong.

The exchange behind that fortune is now closing. BitMEX closes on September 23 at 04:00 UTC. Owner HDR Global Trading Limited called time in July after a strategic review.

Delo admitted a Bank Secrecy Act violation in February 2022. BitMEX had run no proper customer checks. He paid a $10 million fine, then Donald Trump pardoned him in March 2025.

Reform’s next register lands in November. It will show whether the party can raise real money without him.

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