BitMEX Co-Founder Ben Delo Doubles Down on Reform UK With £4M Donation

BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo has given Reform UK another £4 million, making the crypto entrepreneur one of the party’s biggest financial backers. The donation comes on the heels of Parliament moving to restrict cryptocurrency donations to British political parties.

Delo becomes a major Reform backer

Electoral Commission records show Delo provided £4 million to Reform during the second quarter of 2026. The donation followed another £4 million contribution earlier in the year, bringing his total giving to the party to £8 million in 2026.

A bird’s-eye view of Reform’s donor landscape reveals a hard-to-miss metric. In Q2 2026, Reform raised £5.3 million from private donors, meaning Delo alone supplied about three-quarters of the party’s reported fundraising.

Source: Guardian

Delo, a British crypto entrepreneur and BitMEX co-founder, has publicly aligned himself with Reform’s political project. He previously said he was moving back to the UK and declared his intention to become more involved in politics.

Back in 2022, Delo was convicted in the US after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement proper anti-money laundering controls at BitMEX. BitMEX has since announced that it will be shutting down its operations, with the exchange facing a lawsuit over 622 BTC liquidations.

Delo’s donations also come as Reform faces broader scrutiny over political funding. The party is currently under pressure following allegations that officials discussed ways of circumventing restrictions on foreign political money.

Meanwhile, Parliament is separately examining an earlier £5 million gift linked to crypto investor Christopher Harborne. 

Parliament targets crypto political money

Delo’s latest donation arrives against a very different regulatory backdrop. The UK government announced in March that it intended to introduce a moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to political parties.

A key concern was that digital assets could allow untraceable funds to enter British politics. The proposed restrictions are intended to apply retrospectively to crypto donations received from March 25, 2026.

The government has confirmed that it will ban political donations made through cryptoassets from March 2026 until regulators can establish safeguards capable of preventing illicit or untraceable money from entering the political system. 

Meanwhile, Labour lawmakers have pushed amendments that would make the cryptocurrency donation ban permanent rather than imposing a temporary ban.  

The proposed restrictions form part of a wider attempt to reduce the influence of wealthy overseas donors. The government has also proposed a £100,000 ceiling on donations from British citizens living abroad, a measure that could affect major Reform backers with substantial overseas connections.

Across the Atlantic, crypto money is playing a major role in the lead-up to the US midterm elections. At the start of the year, Fairshake, a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC), had raised over $193 million to back pro-digital asset candidates.