UK Imposes Moratorium on Political Donations in Cryptocurrency

In brief

• The UK government has imposed an immediate moratorium on all crypto donations to political parties, following the Rycroft review into foreign electoral interference.
• Parties have 30 days to return crypto donations once legislation passes, with criminal penalties thereafter.
• Overseas donations from British expats will also be capped at £100,000 annually.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced an immediate moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to UK political parties following an independent review into countering foreign financial influence in British politics, according to the Press Association. The ban, triggered by the government-commissioned Rycroft review, covers donations of any size, and will be applied retrospectively to all cryptocurrency donations received from today. Parties will have 30 days to return any crypto received once legislation is passed, after which criminal penalties apply. The review also recommended that overseas donations from UK citizens living abroad and still on the electoral register be capped at £100,000 per year. The rules are being written into the Representation of the People Bill currently going through Parliament.

To date, the only major political party in the country to accept donations in crypto is Reform UK. Reports indicate that the party received the UK’s first-ever crypto donation in October 2025, though no declaration has been made to the Electoral Commission. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has positioned himself as a “champion” for cryptocurrency, calling for lower capital gains taxes on crypto and for the establishment of a national Bitcoin reserve.  Members of Reform UK reportedly walked out of Parliament during the announcement of the ban, during which Starmer aimed a pointed barb at Farage, suggesting that there is “only one party leader who has shown he will say anything, no matter how divisive, if he is paid to do so."

Philip Rycroft, the former senior civil servant who authored the review, stopped short of calling for a permanent ban on crypto donations. In the review, he wrote that a moratorium “should not be seen as a prelude to an outright and permanent ban,” but as an “interlude” to allow the regulatory environment to catch up with cryptoassets, and gather together the expertise to allow for the “safe use of cryptoassets in the political process.”