Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been reported to Parliament's standards watchdog over allegations that he lobbied the Bank of England on cryptocurrency policy in a way that could benefit his biggest donor, a major investor in stablecoin issuer Tether.
Phil Brickell, a Labour MP who chairs the parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, has asked the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, to examine Farage’s dealings with the central bank. Parliamentary rules bar MPs from approaching officials or ministers on behalf of people who pay them, for 12 months after such a payment.
“Before meeting the governor of the Bank of England, Farage openly championed Tether, criticised proposed restrictions on stablecoins and vowed to challenge the Bank’s approach,” Brickell told the Guardian, adding that Farage “has since claimed credit for persuading the Bank to soften its position.”
Meeting the Bank
The complaint centers on a private meeting last September, at which Farage reportedly urged Governor Andrew Bailey to scrap plans for a central bank digital currency, or "Britcoin," an idea he has said he would go to prison to block. Farage later claimed credit for pushing the Bank to soften its approach, and last week it dropped a proposed £20,000 cap on individual stablecoin holdings that he had publicly attacked.
A second Labour MP, Joe Powell, has written to Bailey to request details of the meeting, arguing that, "Decisions relating to the UK’s financial system, including those involving bank digital currencies, must be made in the public interest and on the basis of rigorous, independent assessment, not shaped behind closed doors to benefit individual financiers."
Brickell said the case goes beyond crypto, turning on whether an MP "who has received millions from one individual" should advance policies that could lift the value of that donor's investments.
That donor is Christopher Harborne, a British, Thailand-based billionaire who holds a 12% stake in USDT issuer Tether, and sits sixth on the Sunday Times Rich List.
An undeclared gift
The Reform UK leader accepted an undeclared £5 million ($6.7 million) gift from Harborne prior to standing in the July 2024 general election. At the time, Farage had not announced plans to run as a Member of Parliament, and the gift was undeclared to parliamentary authorities.
Per the Guardian, he also took two £25,000 political donations from Harborne, in January 2025 and February 2026 for trips to the U.S. and the Chagos Islands, while Reform UK received a further £15 million from the billionaire between last August and February. Greenberg is separately investigating whether Farage should have declared the £5 million personal gift.
Farage and Harborne have both said the billionaire wanted nothing in return, while Farage's account of the gift has shifted, from a contribution to his security, to a reward for his Brexit campaigning, to money he can spend as he likes. He has called it "unconditional" and "a purely private matter," and Reform UK has dismissed the broader allegations as "utter rubbish." Labour has also accused Farage of dodging scrutiny.
The Bank of England said the September meeting was part of its routine engagement with political figures and acknowledged that Farage and Bailey held differing views on the digital pound, but it has not released any minutes.
Farage has previously styled himself a “champion” for the cryptocurrency space, calling for the UK to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve and pushing for lower capital gains taxes on digital assets.
Decrypt has reached out to Nigel Farage and Phil Brickell for comment, and will update this article should they respond.
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