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A leading United Kingdom lawmaker has asked the country’s top finance sector regulator to investigate Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, over a promotional video for Stack BTC in which the company said the controversial politician executed a £2 million ($2.7 million) BTC purchase on its behalf.
- Farage in spotlight over £2M BTC deal
- Promotional video sparks market manipulation fears
- Rigging crypto rules
On Monday, Daisy Cooper, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat party—one of the larger U.K. opposition parties—wrote to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) asking the regulator to investigate whether Farage’s recent Stack BTC promotional video, which he took part in a few weeks after he invested £215,000 ($291,341) in the company, amounted to “potential market abuse, a conflict of interest, and exposure of ordinary people to financial harm.”
She added that the case “raises concerns that Farage could be using the Trump playbook to put his own interests above the public good.”
Farage has been a long-time supporter of both digital assets and United States President Donald Trump, the world’s most prominent crypto-advocate.
In 2025, Reform UK became the first U.K. political party to accept donations in digital currency. This was followed in December by the revelation that the party had received a £9 million ($12.12 million) donation from Christopher Harborne, a leading cryptocurrency investor. Meanwhile, Farage himself has previously admitted to holding digital assets, telling a conference in London in October 2025 that he was the “only hope” for the U.K. digital currency industry.
These well-publicized links to the digital asset space were almost certainly a motivating factor in the recent push from several U.K. political parties to curtail such sources of funding, which culminated in the government announcing in March an emergency ban on digital asset donations to political parties.
In Cooper’s letter to FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi, which she published on X, the Lib Dem Deputy leader highlighted that Farage has “long campaigned for a series of policies that would expand the use of cryptocurrency,” including forming a Bitcoin reserve fund—in the mold of the U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve—and forcing HMRC to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method when collecting taxes.
She also noted Harborne’s multi-million donation to Reform UK, which she described as “the largest political donation of its kind in U.K. history.”
“Taken together, these facts beg the question whether Mr. Farage is promoting cryptocurrencies through his political platform in order to inflate crypto values for his own financial benefit, as well as that of his party and his inner circle of donors,” Cooper argued. “Farage has openly suggested that this might be the case, describing Reform UK’s support for the crypto industry as a ‘trade that works for both of us.’”
She added that “we must now shed light on the exact nature of this trade.”
Beyond potential law-breaking, Cooper also raised broader concerns that Farage’s reckless advocacy for digital assets could discourage people from heeding financial regulators’ advice.
Stack BTC video
The company behind the furor, Stack BTC, is a U.K.-based company that claims to focus on building a portfolio of high-quality, cash-generative businesses alongside a Bitcoin treasury.
The company is chaired by Kwasi Kwarteng, the former Tory chancellor known for his calamitous 2022 mini budget under the short-lived government of former Prime Minister Liz Truss.
In March, Farage made it known he had invested £215,000 ($291,341) in Stack, which is listed on London’s Aquis Stock Exchange.
This was followed, on Monday, by the firm releasing a promotional video to X featuring Farage purchasing 37 BTC, worth around £2 million ($2.7 million), for the company, accompanied by the comment: “Nigel Farage has purchased £2m of Bitcoin for Stack BTC – becoming the first sitting MP and the first U.K. political party leader in history to publicly buy Bitcoin.”
For Lib Dem Deputy leader Cooper, the potential problem with this promotion is that Farage’s participation could amount to market manipulation, disseminating misleading information, or insider dealing under U.K. market abuse rules, whether it actually does is a different matter.
As an investor in the company, a prominent public figure, and the leader of a political party, a case could be made—as Cooper appears to be making—that Farage was promoting Stack “to inflate crypto values for his own financial benefit.”
In theory, this could fall under the definition of market manipulation, which can incur custodial sentences of up to 10 years and unlimited fines. However, unless the promotion was simultaneously presenting false or misleading information whilst inducing people to invest, it is unlikely to concern the FCA.
To strengthen her case, Cooper also evoked the specter of Trump, saying “we must also establish if this is another area in which the Reform UK leader is looking to copy the Donald Trump playbook.”
To back this up she cited a recent investigation by Bloomberg that found Trump and his family had generated $1.4 billion from digital asset projects during his second term, boosted by the President’s crypto-favorable legislation, executive orders, and regulatory appointments.
The implication being that Farage’s U.K. crypto advocacy serves to boost the value of his own digital asset investments and holdings, and that if he got into government, he would be able to shape legislation and regulation to further this end, with no regard to market or consumer protection.
This is a more speculative complaint, as it relies on a hypothetical—if increasingly possible—scenario in which Farage enters government and has the ability to directly influence legislative and executive decisions, beyond his current official position as leader of a fringe political party with only eight sitting MPs. As such, it’s unlikely the FCA would expend many resources investigating this accusation either.
From an FCA point of view, the biggest concern about the promotional video would almost certainly be whether it complied with the U.K.’s financial promotions regime, which dictates that any promotion of digital asset products or services must attach a “clear warning” and be communicated in one of four lawful routes: by an “authorized person,” by an unauthorized person with the approval of an “authorized person,” by a digital asset business registered with the FCA, or meet the conditions for an exemption.
If the Stack promotion met these standards—as previous announcements and promotions by the firm have made clear that they do—then it is unlikely that the FCA would have much of a gripe with the video; even if the promotion was not compliant, it is likely the company, rather than Farage himself, would be on the hook for it.
As for Cooper’s complaint about potential conflict of interest, the FCA does not police this, rather it would fall under Parliamentary rules around register of member interests and paid advocacy.
Nevertheless, a spokesperson for Farage reportedly described the Stack event as a “photocall,” adding that “Mr Farage is embracing the 21st century. He bought the crypto on behalf of Stack and not personally” and that he would do “whatever is appropriate” with his Stack shares if he entered government, according to a report on Wednesday by The Guardian.
This appears to address any possible Parliamentary route to officially admonishing Farage.
In other words, Cooper’s requested investigation is unlikely to gain much traction with the FCA and may be intended as more of a publicity stunt to shine a spotlight on Farage’s increasing links to the digital asset space, an area, rightly or wrongly, still seen by many as tainted by the numerous scams and Ponzi schemes that defined its early years.
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