The leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, has been working to convince the Bank of England to drop plans for a state-run stablecoin that could be costly for a major donor, according to the Guardian.

The paper reported that Farage used a private meeting with the Bank to urge its governor to drop plans for “Britcoin”, a government-run stablecoin that could cut demand for Tether, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin.

Reform donor and crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne owns a 12 per cent stake in Tether, which the paper suggested could earn him around £1 billion a year.

Farage has previously said that Harborne wants nothing in exchange for the £5 million personal gift he has given the Reform UK leader and his extensive funding of the party. A spokesperson for the party told the BBC that Farage had “always been clear that this was a personal, unconditional gift and no rules were broken”.

Tether is the most widely traded cryptocurrency in the world, and the El Salvador-based company has previously posted profits above companies including Netflix and Coca Cola.

At an event last year, Farage said he was “prepared to go to prison” to stop the rollout of the cryptocurrency, framing his opposition as a campaign against state overreach and fears about a digital ID. The Bank has not said this will be the case.

Anna Turley, chair of the Labour party, told the Guardian she would write to the financial regulator to ask it to investigate Farage’s actions.

Commenting on the main points of the story, Harborne’s lawyers told the paper they contained “a number of unsupported insinuations, hallucinations, and conspiracy theories bearing no basis in reality” but did not give detailed responses, adding: “Mr Harborne will not comment on fantasy”.

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