A UK parliamentary committee called for an immediate halt on crypto political donations until better protections are in place.
A parliamentary committee in the UK made up of members from all parties has asked the government to put an immediate stop to Bitcoin donations to political parties until better protections are in place.
The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy said in a report released on Wednesday that the government should change the Representation of the People Bill to put a “immediate moratorium on crypto donations” until the Electoral Commission releases legal guidance before the next general election, which is set for August 2029.
The committee also recommended establishing a Political Finance Enforcement Unit to monitor these activities and reducing the minimum reported amount for political donations from 11,180 British pounds ($14,900) to 500 pounds ($668). They also suggested raising the maximum prison sentences for wrongdoing involving foreign financing to three years.
The committee said that threats from other states are growing and that they are trying to sway the UK’s opinions on important topics, such as its relationships with the US, the EU, and Ukraine.
Source: The UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy
Rising political scrutiny around crypto donations
The advice coincides with an increasing focus on cryptocurrency-related money in British politics. In 2025, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK became the first party to take donations in cryptocurrency. Reform UK recently announced a $4 million donation from crypto investor Christopher Harborne in the last three months of 2025. This was after a record $12 million donation in the preceding three months.
The research says that crypto donations are a “unnecessary and unacceptably high risk” to the integrity of the political financing system and public trust, without strong rules from regulators.
The committee also mentioned places like Ireland, where party members can’t take political Bitcoin donations because they are worried about foreign interference.
People in the UK are worried about crypto donations
In the UK, it is allowed to provide money to political campaigns in the form of Bitcoin, as long as the procedures set by the Electoral Commission are followed. UK politicians reportedly started discussing the possibility of outlawing cryptocurrency-based political donations in December 2025.
In January, seven high-ranking members of the UK Labour Party asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer to stop political parties from getting donations in cryptocurrency.
Crypto can hide the real source of funds, allow thousands of small donations below disclosure thresholds, and make UK politics more open to foreign interference.