UK Rebels Want Reform's Crypto Wallet Closed for Good — No Rollback, No Receipts 🗳️

Labour MPs are mobilising to convert the UK government's moratorium on cryptocurrency political donations into a permanent statutory ban, according to the Guardian. A group of backbenchers on Parliament's all-party anti-corruption group is gathering signatures for four amendments to the Representation of the People Bill, with the crypto measure drawing the broadest support after weeks of scrutiny over the finances of Reform UK and its leader Nigel Farage.

The flagship amendment, led by Liam Byrne, the Labour chair of the business select committee, would scrap the temporary moratorium in favour of an outright prohibition. Byrne said Reform UK politicians appeared willing to go to "extraordinary lengths" to avoid scrutiny of their finances, and urged colleagues to back the changes as a safeguard for UK democracy. His amendment had at least 20 signatures by midday Thursday, the Guardian reported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced an immediate moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to UK political parties following the government-commissioned Rycroft review into countering foreign financial influence in British politics, according to the Press Association. The ban, triggered by the Rycroft review, covers donations of any size and is being applied retrospectively to all cryptocurrency donations received from today, with parties given 30 days to return any crypto already received.

Other amendments target broader campaign-finance rules. Former cabinet minister Anneliese Dodds has tabled a measure cutting campaign spending limits by nearly a third, from £34 million to £24.4 million, arguing the UK faces "an arms race in funding political campaigns." Yuan Yang, an ally of the incoming prime minister, wants limits on how much money a party can hold when it is first set up, after it emerged that Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain launched with £2.5 million in the bank without declaring its source. A fourth amendment, from Mark Sewards, would introduce checks on whether donations risk being part of a foreign attempt to undermine British democracy.

The UK first imposed a moratorium on crypto political donations in March, after the Rycroft review warned that the anonymity of digital-asset transfers could be used to channel foreign money into British politics. Review author Philip Rycroft, a former senior civil servant, called for a temporary "interlude" rather than a permanent ban to give regulation time to catch up — a position the rebel amendment would override. Campaigners have argued the Electoral Commission lacks the tools to trace crypto and have pointed to outright bans already in place in Ireland and Brazil. Reform UK became the first major British party to accept crypto donations in June 2025, and has since received millions of pounds from expatriate crypto billionaires, according to the Guardian.