Crypto billionaire's donation to Britain's Reform Party triggers Labour countermove, advancing legislation to restrict massive political donations from foreign tycoons

September 13 — According to Bloomberg, the UK Labour government is advancing legislation to restrict large political donations from overseas wealthy individuals. Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the new bill plans to set an annual donation cap of £100,000 for British citizens living abroad, apply it to those who have recently returned to the UK, and also seek to retroactively cover past donations, with non-compliant funds required to be returned within 60 days.

Yesterday, two crypto billionaires each donated $48.7 million to Reform UK, tying the record for the largest individual political donation in British history. Crypto investor Christopher Harborne donated £36 million (about $48.7 million) on Saturday to Nigel Farage-led Reform UK, the same amount as BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo's donation the previous day. The two crypto billionaires donated a combined £72 million (about $97.4 million) within 24 hours.

The two donations tied as the largest individual political donations in the history of British political parties. Harborne is an investor in stablecoin issuer Tether and crypto trading platform Bitfinex.