Senior members of the UK Parliament are pushing for tighter rules on political donations made in digital assets.
According to The Guardian, seven Labour Party MPs have formally appealed to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to introduce a ban on the use of digital assets for political donations. The request, outlined in an official letter sent on January 11, highlights the alleged risks associated with the opacity of such digital financial instruments and the potential for foreign actors to interfere in the UK democratic system.
The seven chairpersons of various government parliamentary committees have called for the ban to be included in an electoral bill expected to be presented in the coming weeks.
Liam Byrne, chair of the parliamentary committee on commerce and business, is among the signatories of the letter. According to Byrne, political funding “must be transparent, traceable, and verifiable.”
“Cryptocurrencies can obscure the true source of funds, enable thousands of micro-donations below mandatory disclosure thresholds, and expose British politics to foreign interference,” Byrne stated.
The issue of digital asset donations to UK politics became tangible last May, when Reform UK announced it would be the first political party in the country to accept contributions in digital assets. The initiative was launched by leader Nigel Farage as part of a broader pro-crypto strategy, which includes a proposal to create a national Bitcoin reserve.
The party’s website specifies that anonymous cryptocurrency donations are not allowed, in an effort to maintain a minimum level of transparency.
The proposal to ban digital asset donations to politics is not new in UK parliamentary debate. Last July, Labour MP Pat McFadden raised the issue, emphasizing the importance of knowing who is providing donations, whether donors are properly registered, and what guarantees exist regarding the legitimacy of such contributions. “Democracy funding is often a controversial area, but I believe it is essential to know the identity of anyone making a donation,” McFadden said.
Civil society organizations have also expressed support for the proposal. Last month, the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition stated that it backs the ban, noting that “allowing cryptocurrency donations contradicts the government’s own warnings regarding foreign interference, illicit finance, and hostile actors seeking to exploit democratic systems.”
