Seven senior UK lawmakers urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday to ban political donations made in cryptocurrency, asking the government to include the measure in an elections bill due later this month because they say crypto can hide foreign interference, as reported. The letter was signed by chairs of several parliamentary committees who argued donations must be transparent and traceable.
Business and trade committee chair Liam Byrne, a signatory, said the risks are large and hard to manage, “Crypto can obscure the true source of funds, enable thousands of micro donations below disclosure thresholds, and expose UK politics to foreign interference.” He added that “The Electoral Commission has warned that current technology makes these risks exceptionally hard to manage.” See a video featuring Liam Byrne addressing the Commons.
Government officials reportedly think a ban may be too complex to include in the elections bill, which will also lower the voting age to 16, as reported. The push could affect Reform UK, which said it planned to accept crypto and whose leader Nigel Farage promoted pro-crypto policy.
The party also received a record cash gift of $12 million (9 million pounds) from early crypto investor Christopher Harborne. Senior MP Pat McFadden first proposed a crypto donation ban in July, saying “funding of democracy is often a controversial area, but I think that it’s very important that we know who is providing the donation, are they properly registered, what are the bona fides of that donation.”
Advocacy groups such as the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition have said they support a ban and warned that allowing crypto donations conflicts with government concerns about foreign interference, illicit finance and hostile actors, according to a statement posted by the group. For details on editorial standards see the Editorial Policy.
