Nigel Farage reported to parliamentary standards watchdog over alleged crypto lobbying tied to major Tether investor
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been reported to Parliament’s standards commissioner amid allegations that he lobbied the Bank of England on crypto policy in ways that could have advantaged his biggest donor — a billionaire with a major stake in USDT issuer Tether.
Labour MP Phil Brickell, who chairs the parliamentary group on anti‑corruption and responsible tax, asked Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg to investigate Farage’s contacts with the central bank. Brickell points to parliamentary rules that bar MPs from approaching officials or ministers on behalf of people who pay them for 12 months after such a payment.
The complaint focuses on a private meeting held last September between Farage and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. According to Brickell, Farage publicly championed Tether and criticised proposed restrictions on stablecoins before the meeting, urged Bailey to abandon plans for a central bank digital currency (the so‑called “Britcoin”), and later claimed credit for persuading the Bank to soften its approach. Last week the Bank dropped a proposed £20,000 cap on individual stablecoin holdings — a limit Farage had publicly attacked.
Brickell told the Guardian that Farage “has since claimed credit for persuading the Bank to soften its position.” A second Labour MP, Joe Powell, has also written to Bailey seeking details of the meeting, arguing that decisions about the UK’s financial system — including a digital pound — should be made openly and on the basis of independent assessment, “not shaped behind closed doors to benefit individual financiers.”
The alleged beneficiary is Christopher Harborne, a British billionaire based in Thailand who holds a reported 12% stake in Tether and ranks sixth on the Sunday Times Rich List. Farage accepted an undeclared £5 million ($6.7 million) gift from Harborne before he stood in the July 2024 general election — at that time he had not announced plans to run as an MP and the gift was not declared to parliamentary authorities. Greenberg is separately investigating whether that £5 million should have been declared.
Additional payments from Harborne include two £25,000 political donations to Farage in January 2025 and February 2026 (reported as funding for trips to the U.S. and the Chagos Islands) and £15 million given to Reform UK between last August and February.
Farage and Harborne deny any quid pro quo. Farage has described the £5 million as “unconditional” and “a purely private matter,” while his explanations for the gift have varied over time — from security funding to a reward for Brexit campaigning to general discretionary funds. Reform UK has dismissed the lobbying allegations as “utter rubbish.” Labour has accused Farage of evading scrutiny.
The Bank of England said the September meeting was part of routine engagement with political figures and acknowledged that Farage and Bailey hold differing views on a digital pound, but it has not published minutes of the conversation.
Farage has positioned himself as a crypto champion, previously calling for a UK Bitcoin strategic reserve and advocating lower capital gains taxes for digital assets. Phil Brickell’s complaint frames the issue broadly: whether an MP who “has received millions from one individual” should be advancing policies that could increase the value of that donor’s investments.
Decrypt has reached out to Nigel Farage and Phil Brickell for comment and will update this story if they respond.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
