Christopher Harborne — the Tether investor also known as Chakrit Sakunkrit — has surged into the top ranks of Britain’s richest people, just as scrutiny mounts over his political donations.
Key facts
- The Sunday Times Rich List 2026 (published 15 May) ranks Harborne sixth among the UK’s wealthiest, with an estimated fortune of £18.2bn.
- That wealth is largely tied to a roughly 12% stake in stablecoin issuer Tether, which the report values at about $200bn.
- Harborne has lived in Thailand for more than 20 years and holds Thai citizenship under the name Chakrit Sakunkrit; the list calls him the wealthiest British-born person in 2026.
- His reported wealth is greater than the combined fortunes of the rest of Yorkshire’s top 10.
Political ties and the Farage inquiry
The publishing of Harborne’s wealth coincided with a formal parliamentary investigation into Nigel Farage. On 15 May the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner opened a Rule 5 inquiry to determine whether Farage failed to register a £5m gift from Harborne, reportedly made in early 2024.
Farage has insisted the payment was an “unconditional personal gift” to pay for his security and said there is “no case to answer,” also describing the funds as “a reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years.” Separately, questions have been raised over a property purchase of about £1.4m Farage made shortly after receiving the money.
Donations, crypto politics and wider scrutiny
Harborne has been a major backer of Reform UK, donating more than £22m since the party’s founding. His £9m contribution in August 2025 was reported at the time as the largest single political donation from a living individual in British history. Reform UK was also the first Westminster party to publicly accept crypto donations.
The scrutiny of Harborne’s financial links to Farage is not limited to the parliamentary inquiry. In April the Liberal Democrats asked the Financial Conduct Authority to probe Farage’s connection to bitcoin treasury firm Stack BTC, after he appeared in promotional material and was reported to hold a 6.31% stake.
What could happen next
If the standards commissioner concludes Farage breached the Commons Code of Conduct, sanctions could range from a formal apology to suspension from the Commons — and, in the most serious outcome, potentially triggering a by-election in Clacton.
Crypto.news has been following developments, including the property story and the FCA referral, as the overlap between major crypto investors and UK politics continues to attract attention.
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