Cash is no longer king? Nigel Farage vows to lead a ‘crypto revolution’ bringing Britain ‘properly into the 21st century’ after vowing to protect hard currency before election
Nigel Farage last night vowed to lead a ‘crypto revolution’ in Britain that would see the Bank of England build up a Bitcoin reserve’.
The Reform leader, who is facing accusations of having ‘fantasy’ economic plans, used an appearance at a digital currency conference in Las Vegas to vow to ‘bring our country properly into the 21st century’.
He used his time on stage in the Nevada gambling resort to reveal Reform UK is now accepting donations in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Mr Farage, a long-term advocate of the electronic money, vowed to make London ‘one of the major trading centres of the world’ and said his party had drawn up a Crypto Assets and Digital Finance Bill to bring in if they win the next election.
‘My message to the British public, my message particularly to young people, is help us to help you bring our country properly into the 21st century,’ he said.
‘Let’s recognise that crypto, Bitcoin, digital assets, are here to stay.’
However, Mr Farage’s long-term support for crypto appears to sit at odds for his well-publicised support for the ‘cash is king’ campaign.
He backed the grassroots movement to ensure that shops have to accept currency, and not just electronic payment, to help older shoppers.
And in 2023 he accused banks of ‘relentlessly driving Britain towards a cashless society’.
The Reform leader, who is facing accusations of having ‘fantasy’ economic plans, used an appearance at a digital currency conference in Las Vegas to vow to ‘bring our country properly into the 21st century’.
Before the 2024 election, he backed the grassroots movement to ensure that shops have to accept currency, and not just electronic payment, to help older shoppers.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have increased in popularity in recent years, with research suggesting around 12 per cent of adults in the UK own or have owned cryptoassets, up from 4 per cent in 2021.
Party chairman Zia Yusuf told reporters on Friday that a Reform government would reduce capital gains tax on assets such as Bitcoin to 10 per cent as part of a raft of reforms to how cryptocurrencies are governed.
Mr Yusuf, who does not own cryptocurrency, suggested the cut could generate up to £1 billion for the Treasury over a decade, saying it would encourage more use of such currency and encourage people to move their assets to the UK.
Cryptocurrencies currently incur capital gains tax of either 18 per cent or 24 per cent depending on the rate of income tax paid by the person selling the assets.
Mr Yusuf also announced that Reform would allow people to pay tax in Bitcoin and establish a ‘Bitcoin reserve fund’ to ‘diversify’ the UK’s reserve holdings.
Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans to regulate cryptoassets in a bid to make the UK a ‘world leader’.
She told a fintech conference that she would back the builders as she announced plans to make crypto firms subject to regulation in the same way as traditional finance companies.
Speaking at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas on Thursday night, Mr Farage said: ‘As of now, provided you are an eligible UK donor (…) we are the first political party in Britain that can accept donations in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.’
‘Once again, we’re being innovative,’ he added.
On the Reform UK website on Thursday evening, it was possible to make a donation using cryptocurrency.
There was also a disclaimer stating that all donations are subject to Electoral Commission rules and that anonymous donations are not permissible.
It came as Kemi Badenoch blasted Mr Farage and Keir Starmer for being in a ‘race to the bottom’ over welfare handouts.
In a feisty attack on the Reform and Labour leaders, Mrs Badenoch said the pair believed in getting taxpayers to fund ‘unlimited child support for others’ by scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
Writing in the Mail, the Tory leader branded the benefit unfair and unsustainable, because welfare ‘traps people’ and ‘drives up costs for everyone’.
Instead, she said the Conservatives were now the ‘only serious party of sound money’ and warned that Britain ‘can’t afford the fantasy economics of Starmer and Farage’, who ‘treat economics like a branch of showbiz’.
Mrs Badenoch’s intervention came after Mr Farage this week pledged a spending splurge of up to £85 billion – including generous benefit increases.
The Reform leader said his party would scrap the two-child benefit cap because ‘it’s the right thing to do’, and would fully reverse the winter fuel payment cut.
And yesterday, following months of pressure from his own MPs, the Prime Minister gave a hint that he too could scrap the two-child cap after previously ruling it out.
Mr Farage, a long-term advocate of bitcoin, vowed to make London ‘one of the major trading centres of the world’ and said his party had drawn up a Crypto Assets and Digital Finance Bill to bring in if they win the next election.
Mrs Badenoch said the country was facing a choice between ‘sound money and soothing delusions’, because ‘Keir Starmer can’t tell you what he stands for, Nigel Farage can’t tell you how he’ll pay for anything’.
Sir Keir yesterday warned voters they cannot trust Mr Farage with their ‘future, mortgages or jobs’ in a speech deriding his economic literacy.
The Prime Minister joined the Tories in questioning Reform’s maths after it unveiled plans for a spending splurge if it wins the 2029 election.
Mr Farage has sought to woo working class Labour voters by leaning left with support for scrapping the two-child benefit cap and fully reinstating winter fuel payments.
But he simultaneously backs a series of tax cuts, which left experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies saying there could be an £85billion hole in their plans.
That would dwarfs the £45billion of unfunded tax cuts announced by former Tory Prime Minister Liz Truss in her disastrous 2022 mini-Budget.
Speaking in Warrington Sir Keir said: ‘He set out economic plans which contains billions upon billions of completely unfunded spending. Precisely the sort of irresponsible splurge that sent your mortgage costs, your bills and the cost of living through the roof. It’s Liz Truss all over again.’
But tweeting from Las Vegas Mr Farage accused him of ‘resorting to dirty tricks borrowed from the 2016 referendum campaign to attack me’, adding: ‘This is Project Fear 2.0.’
