{"id":645225,"date":"2026-06-18T11:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645225\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:58:09","slug":"farage-trying-to-block-britcoin-plans-that-could-be-costly-for-billionaire-donor-nigel-farage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645225\/","title":{"rendered":"Farage trying to block \u2018Britcoin\u2019 plans that could be costly for billionaire donor | Nigel Farage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigel Farage has been trying to block a Bank of England<\/a> cryptocurrency plan that could be costly for the billionaire bankrolling his party.<\/p>\n

The Reform UK leader has said Christopher Harborne wants nothing in exchange for the millions he has donated to the party and the undeclared \u00a35m personal gift to Farage that the Guardian revealed<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

But Farage used a private meeting at the Bank to urge the governor to drop plans for a state-run alternative to the digital currency that has made his Thailand-based benefactor<\/a> one of the richest people in the world.<\/p>\n

Farage\u2019s opposition to the proposal for a \u201cBritcoin\u201d is so strong that, after the meeting last September, he told an audience of crypto enthusiasts he would be \u201cprepared to go to prison\u201d to stop it, footage<\/a> of the event shows.<\/p>\n

Harborne\u2019s \u00a325m in donations to Farage\u2019s Reform UK<\/a>, formerly the Brexit party, account for about two-thirds of its funding. He is one of a handful of tech figures who own Tether, the company that issues the world\u2019s most widely traded cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n

Tether\u2019s digital cash, known as stablecoins, is pegged in value to government-issued currencies, allowing users to exchange their money easily between the two. Registered in El Salvador with a small staff, Tether\u2019s reported profits have surpassed those of Netflix and Coca-Cola.<\/p>\n

If Harborne\u2019s share of the profits is equal to his 12% stake, that would give him about \u00a31bn a year. Those profits could fall, however, if the Bank\u2019s governor, Andrew Bailey, proceeds with the Britcoin plan, which could cut demand for stablecoins such as Tether\u2019s, according to a submission to the central bank by an industry body that represents the company.<\/p>\n

Farage told October\u2019s Zebu Live event in London he regarded the Bank\u2019s plans for a digital pound with \u201ctotal and utter horror\u201d.<\/p>\n

He recounted the meeting he and his fellow Reform MP, the property developer Richard Tice, held at Threadneedle Street with Bailey. \u201cI asked him straight: \u2018Are you still progressing your plans for a British central bank digital currency?\u2019 And the answer was: \u2018Yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Farage\u2019s dislike of Bailey\u2019s governorship has recently become the subject of deepfake memes<\/a> promoting crypto scams that depict the politician beating up the central banker at a falsified TV appearance.<\/p>\n

Like his advocacy for crypto in general, Farage frames his position on central bank digital currencies as part of a campaign for freedom from an over-powerful state. Rather than linking his opposition to the possible threat to companies such as Tether, he claims to be concerned that Britcoin would rely on a digital ID system. Some critics<\/a> have made this claim, but the Bank has not said this would be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to live in a country with a central bank digital currency,\u201d he told the crypto event. He added: \u201cI\u2019m prepared to go to prison to stop us having [central bank digital currencies] administered under digital ID. That is how committed I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian sent the main points of this article to Reform and Harborne. Harborne\u2019s lawyers said they contained \u201ca number of unsupported insinuations, hallucinations, and conspiracy theories bearing no basis in reality\u201d but did not give detailed responses, adding: \u201cMr Harborne will not comment on fantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A Reform spokesperson said: \u201cThis is utter rubbish. Nigel\u2019s only focus is on saving the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in his opposition to Britcoin, Farage\u2019s position appears to be closely aligned with Tether\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Digital Currencies Governance Group (DCGG), an industry body representing what it describes as a \u201cfull spectrum of key stakeholders in the ecosystem, including Tether\u201d, made a submission<\/a> to the Bank and the Treasury about the Britcoin plans in 2021. It claimed there was a \u201csignificant risk\u201d that users might switch away from stablecoins such as Tether\u2019s to the state-run digital currency, \u201cstifling growth and innovation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The DCGG submission said that although \u201csome argue that central bank digital currencies will restrict illegal activity\u201d, the authorities should instead develop \u201ca regulated market for private stablecoins\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tether stablecoins are popular as an alternative to currencies plagued by inflation, and to pricey money-transfer services. Billions in Tether stablecoins \u2013 which users can buy and sell without revealing their identity \u2013 are known to have been used by Russian people breaking sanctions, Asian perpetrators of \u201cpig-butchering\u201d romance scams<\/a>, North Korean hackers, British drug gangs and transnational organised criminals. The company\u2019s representatives say it collaborates with law-enforcement agencies in dozens of countries.<\/p>\n

Harborne\u2019s lawyers have stressed that he is a minority shareholder in Tether, not an executive. But he does appear to have sought to shape policymakers\u2019 approach to crypto.<\/p>\n

EU lobbying records<\/a> say Harborne was registered as a DCGG lobbyist in 2020-21, seeking to influence Brussels\u2019 crypto policy. He met the staff of at least one MEP, from the liberal Czech Pirate party.<\/p>\n

Harborne\u2019s lawyers point out there is no evidence his activities in connection with DCGG were undertaken for or on behalf of Tether.<\/p>\n

Harborne also appears to have invited DCGG\u2019s boss to a Conservative fundraising dinner in 2022, a period when he had temporarily switched his donations from Farage to the Tories.<\/p>\n

Francesca Salierno, formerly an aide to a Ukip MEP, joined Harborne at the Victoria & Albert Museum for the exclusive event<\/a> in June 2022. That was shortly after Boris Johnson\u2019s government had announced its crypto policy, which included proposals for regulating stablecoins.<\/p>\n

Founded by a reclusive Italian former plastic surgeon<\/a>, Tether does not publish full accounts or undergo audits. It has found favour in the US under Donald Trump, who appointed its banker, Howard Lutnick, as his commerce secretary. A reported investigation into dirty money flowing through its digital currency appears to have ceased.<\/p>\n

In the UK, the company has a champion in Farage. Talking up<\/a> Tether on LBC radio in September, the month after Harborne gave Reform a record \u00a39m, Farage said: \u201cStablecoins, crypto, this world is enormous, and I\u2019ve been urging for years that London should embrace it. We should become a global trading centre for this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as using his meeting with Bailey to object to the Bank\u2019s digital currency plans, Farage has said he pushed the governor to abandon a proposed cap on stablecoin holdings by individuals in the UK.<\/p>\n

At the Zebu Live event, Farage said he told Bailey: \u201cListen mate, you\u2019re being a dinosaur.\u201d Farage has claimed Bailey changed his plans<\/a> as a result. Bank officials have said that following a consultation they are considering this and other options to address risks posed by stablecoins.<\/p>\n

The Bank has refused a freedom of information request for details of Farage\u2019s meeting with Bailey, saying that \u201cdisclosure would be likely to inhibit the free and frank provision of advice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tim Picton, of the campaign group Spotlight on Corruption, said: \u201cThe Bank of England should disclose the full minutes of its meeting with Farage and Richard Tice last year. With the government at a critical stage of developing its landmark regulatory framework for crypto assets, it is vital that we have more transparency around the key players and vested interests trying to shape it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Bank of England spokesperson said Farage\u2019s meeting with Bailey was \u201cpart of the Bank\u2019s engagement with political representatives\u201d and acknowledged his \u201cdiffering view\u201d from the governor. The Bank was drawing up cryptocurrency policy with \u201cfeedback \u2026 from industry, academia, and the public\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Henry Dyer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nigel Farage has been trying to block a Bank of England cryptocurrency plan that could be costly for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-645225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}