Reform UK has received £72m in donations, most of it from two crypto billionaires, Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, giving Nigel Farage's party a war chest larger than the combined 2024 election spending of all major UK parties. While this could dramatically boost Reform's campaign infrastructure, it also carries significant political risk, as it undercuts Farage's populist framing of Reform as the party of "ordinary Britons" and intensifies scrutiny of the party's finances at a time when it is already dogged by allegations of sleaze.

The £36m windfalls from Delo and Harborne, both offshore-linked cryptocurrency magnates, could fund a staff member in every constituency, but critics will note that Reform's pledge to liberalise UK crypto rules would benefit both donors financially. Farage faces a parliamentary standards investigation for failing to declare a separate £5m gift from Harborne, and two senior aides have been suspended amid a police investigation into alleged attempts to dodge foreign donation laws, exposed by undercover Channel 4 footage. With polls showing rising numbers of voters view Reform and Farage as untrustworthy, the party's challenge under Britain's first-past-the-post system is not just mobilising its base but avoiding becoming toxic enough to unite opponents against it.