Nigel Farage, leader of the British Reform Party, announced his resignation as a member of parliament and to run in the by-elections that could replace him.
Farage on Tuesday announced that he would resign as the MP representing Clacton in response to what he called “vulgar measures” used by established politicians. The British lawmaker’s resignation followed reports that he personally received multimillion-dollar donations and gifts from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne and George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster with ties to a cryptocurrency casino.
“Let me be absolutely clear: I have done nothing wrong,” Farage said in a live broadcast on X. “I have in no way broken the law. I have not misappropriated public money.”
Source: Nigel Farage
Farage was already linked to the cryptocurrency industry before reports of the scandal. He spoke at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas and is an investor in London-listed treasury company Bitcoin (BTC) Stack. When reports began circulating in May that the reform leader had received a $6.7 million gift from Harborne, he initially called it a “reward” for the Brexit campaign, the 2016 referendum that led to Britain leaving the European Union.
Related: Crypto billionaires are financing Nigel Farage’s pro-crypto party
The British MP confirmed he was the subject of two investigations by the UK Parliamentary Standards Commissioner following reports of what he called “gifts” from Harborne and Cottrell, which he said were given “unconditionally”.
He said he would utilize Harborne’s gift to fund measures related to his security, describing threats and attacks, and a by-election triggered by his resignation would give voters the opportunity to choose whether he would continue to represent them or not:
“I have decided that the people of Clacton should be the judge of my actions […] I will be putting my name forward to contest in these by-elections.”
According to “The London Standard” elections determining Farage’s fate as an MP could take weeks or months to decide, given the logistics of him stepping down and calls for a by-election. He won in Clacton with 46.2% of the vote in July 2024 against Conservative and Labor candidates.
Countdown to the US elections with cryptocurrencies hanging over the candidates
While Farage faces investigations in the UK, money from crypto companies and industry insiders could continue to influence US races in November’s midterm elections.
According to a June report by U.S. consumer group Public Citizen, the cryptocurrency industry spent about $189 million supporting candidates seen as supporters of digital asset policies during the 2026 election cycle. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is facing criticism from many lawmakers over his 2025 financial disclosures, which included reporting $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related earnings.
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