A former senior civil servant, Philip Rycroft, has recommended that the UK government introduce a temporary moratorium on political donations made in crypto assets. The recommendation appears in an independent review published on Wednesday, which was commissioned by the government in December 2025. Rycroft called on the government to legislate through the Representation of the People Bill to put the pause in place.
The review identifies several reasons why crypto assets pose a risk to the integrity of political funding. Incomplete regulation, the difficulty of tracing the ultimate ownership of certain assets, and the ability to split larger sums into smaller transfers could all provide a route for foreign money to enter the UK political system. The report also highlights that donations below 500 British pounds fall outside the standard permissibility test, while formal reporting thresholds for political parties are set even higher.
Rycroft noted that the current scale of crypto political donations remains unknown, as none have yet reached the threshold requiring disclosure to the Electoral Commission. Despite this, the review does not advocate for a permanent prohibition. Instead, Rycroft described the proposed pause as an interlude rather than a prelude to an outright ban, giving the regulatory environment time to catch up with the realities of crypto assets.
The review does leave open the possibility that crypto political donations could eventually be permitted under tight supervision by the Electoral Commission and through UK-regulated cryptocurrency exchanges. This conditional allowance suggests the government’s intent is to manage rather than eliminate crypto’s role in political funding. The report frames the moratorium as a temporary measure tied to the development of appropriate oversight frameworks.
Rycroft’s findings arrive one week after a separate report by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy urged the government to impose an immediate moratorium on crypto donations to political parties. That report called for action until the Electoral Commission produces statutory guidance ahead of the next general election. The two reports together reflect growing institutional concern about the issue.
The recommendations also emerge against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny over crypto-linked money in British politics. Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, received a record $12 million political donation from crypto investor Christopher Harborne in the third quarter of 2025, followed by a further $4 million in the fourth quarter of the same year. Reform UK became the first UK political party to begin accepting crypto donations in May 2025.
UK lawmakers had already begun considering a ban on political cryptocurrency donations in December 2025, with such contributions currently legal under Electoral Commission guidance. In January, seven senior UK Labour Party MPs wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging him to prohibit crypto donations to political parties. The convergence of multiple reviews and parliamentary pressure signals that legislative action on the matter may be forthcoming.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
