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Story: Tether Shareholder Christopher Harborne Pours £25M into Reform UK

By Evie Vavasseur

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The £5 Million Gift Nobody Talked About. The donations story got messier fast once it came out that Farage had kept a £5 million personal…

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Regulators and the Prime Minister Are Watching. The UK's Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is now formally examining the undisclosed £5 million…

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Nigel Farage's Reform UK has pulled in more than £25 million from Christopher Harborne, a notable shareholder in Tether and an Ethereum investor, making the party the biggest…

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Harborne, who also goes by the name Chakrit Sakunkrit in Thailand, has been funding Reform since at least 2019. Donation Watch puts his cumulative total at £25,190,000.

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The donations story got messier fast once it came out that Farage had kept a £5 million personal "gift" from Harborne hidden from public view.

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It's not just the money itself. There's also the question of what Harborne's crypto interests might mean for Reform's position on digital asset regulation.

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Then came the phone hacking claim. Allegations surfaced that Russian spies had broken into Farage's phone and leaked details of the payment. Strange part?

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Related: FCA Targets Crypto Sponsorship Deals at Premier League Clubs Over Fan Risk

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer didn't hold back. He publicly questioned why Farage kept the gift secret, framing it as a problem of basic political transparency.

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Farage, for his part, hasn't stepped back from Harborne's support. And why would he? £25 million over several years is a serious financial foundation for a party still building…

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The broader context matters here. Crypto-linked political donations are not a uniquely British phenomenon.

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Harborne's dual identity adds another layer of complexity. Going by both Christopher Harborne and Chakrit Sakunkrit, he operates across different jurisdictions, which makes…

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Delo's involvement is worth noting separately. The BitMEX founder has a complicated history of his own in the crypto world, and his decision to funnel £4 million into Reform's…

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Related: New PAC Backs Crypto Builders as CLARITY Act Heads Toward Senate Vote

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So where does this leave Reform UK? Flush with cash, under investigation, and tied to two of the most prominent names in crypto finance.

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