By Phoebe Seers
LONDON (Reuters) -British populist party Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage told Reuters the party had begun receiving crypto donations, but denied it was copying U.S. President Donald Trump’s playbook as it seeks support from the digital asset industry.
Trump, a Farage ally, aggressively wooed the cryptocurrency industry on the campaign trail, pitching himself as a “crypto president” and boosting the sector’s political influence in the United States.
“I was way before Trump … I came out publicly with this in 2020, and he came out for it much, much, later,” Farage said on Wednesday when asked if he was seeking to replicate Trump’s campaign strategy by appealing to crypto supporters.
In the latest in a series of appeals to the sector, Farage told a crypto conference in London that he was the “only hope” for British crypto businesses.
HARDER TO IDENTIFY SOURCE OF CRYPTO DONATIONS
Farage, who said he held some long-term crypto investments, said Reform UK had already received “a couple” of donations in the form of crypto assets, without giving further details. But he said he was not aware of having received any from crypto asset businesses.
Experts in the UK have warned that donations in cryptocurrencies raise challenges over identifying the original source of funds.
“It’s much easier to move money across borders into the UK to support political parties using crypto than via the banking system,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the security-focused think tank RUSI.
UK law prohibits foreign funding of political organisations.
Keatinge also said that AI tools can create multiple crypto wallets to make donations that fall below reporting thresholds, something far harder to replicate via banks.
The crypto industry has emerged as a major lobbying force in U.S. politics. Big crypto companies spent more than $119 million backing pro-crypto U.S. congressional candidates in 2024 alone.
And since his election, Trump’s administration has made major legislative changes to support the sector, helping send crypto prices to record highs.
Though Reform UK holds only five of the 650 seats in Britain’s parliament and a general election is not due until 2029, the party is leading in public opinion polls.
It became the first British party to accept donations in the form of bitcoin earlier this year, according to the BBC, and its website allows supporters to donate in multiple different cryptocurrencies.
The UK government said last month it would cooperate with the U.S. on its approach to cryptocurrencies.
(Reporting by Phoebe Seers; Writing by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Nick Zieminski and Joe Bavier)
