BBC: Secretive crypto firm backed by Farage donor bought vast UK government debt

financeJul 14, 2026241,145

BBC reports that Tether, the El Salvador-based issuer of the USDT stablecoin, was the single biggest buyer of gold last year and says it holds about $135 billion of US government debt, a level comparable to some G20 countries. Tether stores its gold in a Swiss former nuclear bunker and employs about 200 people. One of Tether's significant shareholders is Christopher Harborne, who donated £9 million to Nigel Farage's Reform party in August, then a further £3 million in October and £3 million in January; Harborne also gave Farage a previously undisclosed £5 million personal gift that became the subject of parliamentary inquiries. Farage and Harborne say there were no strings attached to the personal gift or the political donations. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey confirmed Farage raised crypto regulation, including possible limits on sterling stablecoin holdings, with him in September but said the intervention did not change policy and that he could spot lobbying. The BBC says the payments and Farage's advocacy for the UK to embrace cryptocurrency raise specific questions about the details of those conversations and any potential benefit to Tether and its shareholders. Reform previously published a Cryptoassets and Digital Finance Bill when it led the polls but that draft legislation has since been removed from its website.

Prem Sikka

@premnsikka.bsky.social

Secretive $500bn El Salvador based crypto firm backed by Farage's biggest donor. Its biggest Thailand based shareholder gave £9m in cash to Farage's Reform party. Farage lobbied Bank of England over crypto regulation. Foreign money shaping UK politics.

39845d ago

Seona 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (she/her)9

I saw the upcoming by-election referred to as Count Binface Vs the Count of Dodgy-Crypto.

Dan Cole5

Farage is pay to play

Poodle (Scottish Independence 4 me) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇨🇦3

That's what used to be called bribes and people were jailed for bribery.

Nualaatpeace2

Don't allow Farage to be a baby Trump. Put him squarely in his place. Trump epitomises a corrupt justice dept. He bought it.

Pinny987651

Tether and Bitfinex have been suspected of securities fraud for years. Bitfinexed, an influencer on Twitter, received death threats in 2017 when he exposed them. Seriously shady people linked to cartels and child abuse rings, among other things

Jurgen Klopp’s teeth1

He failed though. Which is a very good thing.

Quoting this

Thomas (he/him)24

The MSM in the UK has decided to report on all of Farage's dodgy financial connections, and that will be the end of him as a national political force. Nothing about his Clacton by-election stunt will get him out of that.

joemuggs.uk10

of course, it's very possible that when Farage says he is constantly under threat, it's actually true - but not because lefties are mean to him: it's because he's in business with proper fucking gangsters

Nicolas Chinardet2

Thankfully he got the country rid of those unelected bureaucrats in Brussels and given the UK its sovereignty back.....

Kelly is a dirty rotten socialist 🌹2

Nigel Farage caught having his hand in the cookie jar? Another sleazy scandal from the King of Sleaze, Farage

Randolph.2

Why isn’t UK MPS blocking anything to do with crypto currency being used by any company in the UK .

Alan Lester

@alanlester.bsky.social

The BBC couldn’t be any clearer: Farage took huge sums of money to push the interests of crypto investors. By far the most corrupt politician in modern British history. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

31045d ago

Chris Nimmo13

Farage should be nowhere near power in the U.K. His activities are very near to illegal ( if not actually illegal ? ).

Carolinemable 9

Has the BBC finally turned against Farage. I assume they know which way the political wind is blowing.

Dr Prit Buttar7

‘By far’ the most corrupt? I think a mop haired former Tory PM might be a candidate for that.

Clarissa Oakes 🇺🇦3

What an excellent piece. Even the pictures seem to be part of the narrative. The BBC used to be good at this type of dry, robust reporting.

debnicktom.bsky.social3

Yes he makes Johnson look like an amateur. Mind you everyone does, one way or another.

martinput3

Someone's stepped off the fence!

Quoting this

Gareth Roberts25

Add to this, the fact that former Reform Leader in Wales is serving 11 years for taking bribes from the Russians, I'd say that Reform is the most political corrupt party in British history. I wish people would remember that UKIP was formed with the intention of preventing rich men from paying tax.

Canaries Caption It3

pushing Boris Johnson into second place possibly? There's so much of Johnson's corruption that went under the radar.

cancelled-by-elon.bsky.social2

The BBC have been comparatively late noticing Farage's corruption but, now they have, he and Reform are doomed.

Best for Britain

@bestforbritain.org

Some facts: Tether owns as much US Govt debt as some G20 nation states. One of Tether's significant shareholders is Christopher Harborne. Who gave Farage £5m "no strings attached". Farage has raised crypto regulation with the Bank of England. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4w6wqye32o

15144d ago

nickequipechasee #TuckFrump2

And obviously promoted a seller of Gold Bullion, - which presumably - "Has nothing to do with Tether's ownership of vast amounts of Gold, either" (?)

neil02.bsky.social1

Follow the money...Wonder if it goes as far as Russia....?

Minister for Porcine Aviation1

The stink coming from all this now is becoming quite overwhelming.

Benjamin1

“Tether owns as much US Govt debt as some G20 nation states.” So much power in so few hands, dangerous times!

fife4europe #FBPE #RejoinEU

@fife4europe.bsky.social

Letting a secretive offshore crypto giant like Tether buy back-door influence in British politics through multi-million-pound donor operations is a massive danger. We must stop allowing politicians to flog our regulatory system to shadowy digital asset firms looking for personal favours. 🛑📉👇

4745d ago

Andy Brown

@andybrown1951.bsky.social

How many people get gifted £5million from friends for no reason other than deep admiration? How many politicians could be bought for that sum and persuaded to speak loud and often about the supposed benefits of crypto? Farage is just a bought and paid for politician www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

7245d ago

Susanita5

I think you’re being a little unfair …. Evidence shows he can be bought for a lot less that £5m 😂😂😂

Tim Bale

@timbale.bsky.social

"[L]ast May when Reform was ahead in the polls, the only piece of draft legislation it had published was its Cryptoassets and Digital Finance Bill....It has since disappeared from the Reform website and from the web generally."

2844d ago

Patrick - Here for the craic❗️🤷🏼‍♂️😉

@paddyopatrick.bsky.social

Let’s call it what it is… it’s an investment not a donation❗️No business man/woman gives £15 million in under a year without expecting an awful lot Last August Harborne gave £9m in cash to Reform – the biggest party donation in UK history. Then £3m in October & £3m in January. #ReformPartyForSale💰💰

2745d ago

Kriszta Satori

@fulelo.bsky.social

#BBCNews - The secretive crypto firm backed by Farage's biggest donor www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #tether

1545d ago

Colin Griffin Fan Club

@followthetown1.bsky.social

Farage looking increasingly like his company Reform UK is a front for the crypto industry. Just like his best mate Trump www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

1945d ago

Ian Moody

@ianmoody.bsky.social

The mysterious crypto firm backed by Farage's biggest donor. The El Salvador-based company runs USDT, the world's biggest stablecoin, which is a form of crypto backed up by hard currency. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

744d ago

Satbir Singh

@satbirsingh.bsky.social

To use a football metaphor (rare for me), we need to play both the ball and the man. Men like Farage can be exposed as corrupt, recalled and booted out of office. But we *also* have to understand and dismantle the much larger ecosystems and agendas behind them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

945d ago

@bobhudson.bsky.social

£10 billion! Just think what could be done with that!! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

444d ago

Alastair Παν 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇷🇪🇺

@alastair-pandelus.bsky.social

Farage's main income is derived from being an unofficial lobbyist for the £500bn valued Tether stable coin company. He recently lobbied the bank of England to favour stable coin crypto companies. Not bad for a politician that claimed he couldn't use a computer. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

845d ago

Cornish Skipper #FBPE #RejoinEU 🇪🇺 〓〓 🔶🌹💚💙

@cornishskipper.bsky.social

“There was a specific issue Farage was concerned about - speculation that the Bank of England would push ahead with a limit on holdings of potential sterling stablecoins of between £10,000 and £20,000.” It’s now been changed to £40 BILLION for an individual‼️ Cui bono? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

744d ago

Rev Peter W Nimmo

@peternimmo.bsky.social

Reform UK Ltd and its cryptocurrency donations: "Never before has a table-topping political party been so dependent on donors connected to a narrow sector, which is in turn demonstrably extremely sensitive to live regulatory decisions" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

545d ago

1 source

bbc.co.ukNigel Farage: The secretive crypto firm backed by Reform's biggest donor

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BBC: Secretive crypto firm backed by Farage donor bought vast UK government debt

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