Dear John,
When Nigel Farage announced that Reform UK would accept cryptocurrency donations, it raised more than a few eyebrows.
Crypto is virtually unregulated – a magnet for scams, money laundering, and political bribery. A new report from Spotlight on Corruption warns that, in our already fragile campaign finance system, it’s a dark money risk multiplier.
A major new report from Spotlight on corruption calls this out for what it is: a risk multiplier in an already broken campaign finance system.
Dr. Susan Hawley, Spotlight’s executive director, put it plainly: “All crypto donations between now and the new elections bill will be extremely high risk. The Government clearly needs to tighten the rules.”
At the heart of this is a loophole we’ve long fought to close: proxy donors. Reform UK requires ID checks for crypto contributors – but crypto is pseudonymous. You can verify who transfers the digital currency, but not where it came from before that. Anyone could bankroll a donation, and we’d never know.
“Just having the identity of the last handler of the crypto… is not really much protection for British democracy”, Dr Hawley added.
We’ve seen this before. Donald Trump recently held a gala for buyers of his Trump-branded crypto coin – a clear channel for influence-buying.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy called it back then: “A backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly… in exchange for favors.”
Britain’s campaign finance rules are full of cracks, from shell companies to unincorporated associations. Crypto just widens them.
Spotlight’s new briefing is essential reading. It details the same loopholes the APPG for Fair Elections is tackling head-on: shell companies, unincorporated associations, and other vehicles to sneak funds into our politics.
