Nigel Farage has been unusually forthcoming about one part of his relationship with Christopher Harborne. The cryptocurrency billionaire who has bankrolled Reform and handed Farage a personal gift of £5 million, Farage insists, wants absolutely nothing in return.
It is worth keeping that claim in mind when reading what Farage has actually been doing on Harborne’s behalf.
Farage used a private meeting at the Bank of England to urge governor Andrew Bailey to drop plans for a state-run digital pound – known as Britcoin – a proposal that, if it proceeded, could significantly reduce demand for the kind of stablecoins that have made Harborne one of the wealthiest people in the world. Harborne owns approximately 12% of Tether, the company that issues the world’s most widely traded cryptocurrency. If his share of the profits equals his stake, that gives him around £1 billion a year. The Digital Currencies Governance Group, an industry body that represents Tether, warned in a submission to the Bank and the Treasury that a state digital currency posed a “significant risk” of users switching away from stablecoins.
After the Bank meeting in September, Farage spoke at Zebu Live, a London cryptocurrency event. He told the audience he had asked Bailey directly: “Are you still progressing your plans for a British central bank digital currency?” Bailey said yes. Farage’s verdict: “I regard it with total and utter horror.”
He then added: “I’m prepared to go to prison to stop us having central bank digital currencies administered under digital ID. That is how committed I am.”
He also told the room: “Listen mate, you’re being a dinosaur.”
That was what Farage said to the governor of the Bank of England, in a private meeting, about a policy that would directly threaten the commercial interests of the man who has donated £25 million to his party.
The money
Harborne’s £25 million in donations to Reform – formerly the Brexit Party – accounts for around two-thirds of the party’s entire funding. He is based in Thailand. He is one of a handful of tech investors who own Tether, registered in El Salvador with a small staff but generating profits that have reportedly surpassed those of Netflix and Coca-Cola. The company does not publish full accounts or undergo independent audits.
As we reported in our Harborne gift piece, the Guardian revealed in April that Harborne had also given Farage a personal undisclosed gift of £5 million. Farage subsequently gave three different accounts of what the money was – a donation, a loan and a gift, in varying combinations depending on when he was asked. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is now investigating whether it should have been declared. Farage argues it should not, on the basis that he was not an MP when he received it.
Labour published 50 questions about the £5 million gift – one for each day Farage went without holding a press conference to address them. He held a press conference. He answered very few of the questions. The Standards Commissioner investigation continues.
Meanwhile, Harborne’s lawyers have described the contents of the Guardian’s reporting as containing “a number of unsupported insinuations, hallucinations, and conspiracy theories bearing no basis in reality.” They added: “Mr Harborne will not comment on fantasy.”
Reform’s response to the Britcoin lobbying story was simpler: “This is utter rubbish. Nigel’s only focus is on saving the country.”
What Tether actually is
It is worth pausing on what the company at the centre of this story does, because it is not a normal investment.
Tether issues stablecoins – digital currencies whose value is pegged to government-issued currencies, allowing users to move money between the two. The appeal is convenience and stability compared to more volatile cryptocurrencies. The concern, documented by regulators and law enforcement across multiple countries, is that billions in Tether have been used by people who do not want their identity known.
Reuters and other outlets have reported Tether stablecoins being used by Russian individuals breaking international sanctions, Asian perpetrators of what are known as “pig-butchering” romance scams, North Korean state hackers, British drug gangs and transnational organised crime networks. Tether says it collaborates with law enforcement agencies in dozens of countries.
Tether’s founder is described by the Wall Street Journal as a “reclusive Italian former plastic surgeon.” The company found significant favour in the US under Donald Trump, who appointed Tether’s banker, Howard Lutnick, as his Commerce Secretary. A reported US investigation into dirty money flowing through Tether’s digital currency appears to have ceased.
Harborne’s lawyers stress he is a minority shareholder, not an executive, and that his activities were not undertaken on behalf of Tether. He is, however, a significant beneficiary of its profits.
The lobbying
Farage’s meeting at the Bank of England was attended by him and fellow Reform MP Richard Tice, who is also a property developer and media personality. The meeting was with Andrew Bailey.
Farage has said he used the meeting to push two specific positions: that the Bank should abandon its Britcoin plans, and that it should drop a proposed cap on stablecoin holdings by individuals in the UK. Both positions are directly aligned with Tether’s commercial interests, as set out in the DCGG industry body submission – which argued that a state digital currency posed a “significant risk” to stablecoins and that the authorities should instead develop “a regulated market for private stablecoins.”
The Bank refused a Freedom of Information request for details of the meeting, saying that “disclosure would be likely to inhibit the free and frank provision of advice.”
Farage claimed after the meeting that Bailey had changed his plans as a result of their conversation. Bank officials said that following a consultation they were “considering this and other options to address risks posed by stablecoins.”
The month before the Bank meeting, Harborne had given Reform a record £9 million donation. The month of the meeting, September, Farage went on LBC and promoted Tether by name. “Stablecoins, crypto, this world is enormous, and I’ve been urging for years that London should embrace it. We should become a global trading centre for this stuff.”
The Conservative interlude
The Harborne-Farage relationship has not always been straightforward. There was a period in 2022 when Harborne briefly switched his donations away from Farage’s operation and towards the Conservative Party instead.
During that period, Boris Johnson’s government announced its crypto policy, which included proposals for regulating stablecoins. EU lobbying records show Harborne was registered as a DCGG lobbyist in 2020-21, seeking to influence Brussels’ crypto policy and meeting the staff of at least one MEP.
Harborne also appears to have invited the DCGG’s chief executive to an exclusive Conservative fundraising dinner at the Victoria & Albert Museum in June 2022 – an event that brought donors together with Johnson. Harborne’s lawyers say there is no evidence his DCGG activities were undertaken for or on behalf of Tether.
He subsequently returned to funding Reform. The donations have continued at scale ever since.
The calls for transparency
Tim Picton of the campaign group Spotlight on Corruption said: “The 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.”
Anna Turley, chair of the Labour Party, said she would write to the financial regulator to ask it to investigate Farage’s actions.
The Bank of England acknowledged the meeting was “part of the Bank’s engagement with political representatives” and acknowledged Farage’s “differing view” from the governor. It said crypto policy was being developed with “feedback from industry, academia, and the public.”
Farage’s own framing of why he opposes Britcoin has nothing to do with any of this. He says he does not want to live in a country with a central bank digital currency because it would rely on a digital ID system. Critics have raised similar concerns. The Bank has not said it would require digital ID.
What Farage has not said is that the man who has given him £25 million in party funding and £5 million personally stands to lose significant income if the Britcoin plan proceeds.
He says Harborne wants nothing in return.
He went to the Bank of England and told the governor he was a dinosaur.
Parliament needs to know what was said in that room.
Leave a Reply