Ben Delo, BitMEX co-founder and Trump pardon recipient, has donated £4 million ($5.3 million) to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.
Delo announced the contribution in a Telegraph op-ed published April 8. He described the donation as his first foray into political activism.
Why a Pardoned Crypto Founder Is Backing Reform UK
Delo co-founded the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX in 2014. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for failing to maintain anti-money laundering controls at the platform.
He paid a $10 million civil fine and received 30 months of probation. President Donald Trump granted full pardons to Delo and his co-founders, Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, in March 2025.
In his op-ed, Delo framed his donation in terms of what he called a crisis of honesty in British public life.
He wrote that Reform UK was the only party willing to confront the country’s problems directly.
“Since the start of this year, I have donated £4m to help Nigel Farage to build Reform UK into a genuine alternative party of government,” The Telegraph reported, citing Delo.
Delo Plans to Bypass Labour’s Overseas Donor Cap
The UK government introduced a £100,000 annual cap on political donations from British citizens living abroad on March 25. A moratorium on cryptocurrency donations also took effect alongside the cap.
The measures followed an independent review into foreign financial interference in British politics led by former Permanent Secretary Philip Rycroft.
Delo, currently based in Hong Kong, said he will relocate to Britain to sidestep the cap and continue funding Reform’s campaign efforts.
Reform UK has received £12 million from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based British investor, over the past year. The new cap could limit Harborne’s future contributions significantly.
