Farage presses Bank of England to scrap digital pound plans

Christopher Harborne, a major donor to Reform UK, is a key investor in Tether and other crypto firms. Labour politicians have called for regulatory review of donations from crypto industry investors. The connection draws scrutiny because a major political donor with deep financial ties to companies that compete with a state digital currency is bankrolling the party whose leader is lobbying the central bank to cancel that same digital currency. Farage has not addressed whether Harborne's interests influenced his position.

If Farage's lobbying stalls or cancels the digital pound project, it removes a potential competitor to private stablecoins and decentralized payment networks. Tether, Circle, and other stablecoin issuers would face one fewer state-backed rival in a major financial market. If the controversy around Harborne's donations leads to tighter regulation of crypto-industry political financing, it could create a chilling effect on the lobbying power crypto firms have built across Western democracies.

Bailey has not publicly responded to Farage's demands. The digital pound project remains active, with the Bank of England and Treasury still in the design phase. Farage's campaign adds a new layer of political risk to a timeline that was already uncertain.