Reform UK leader Nigel Farage reportedly accepted gifts that he did not publicly disclose from a crypto entrepreneur convicted of fraud in the US, according to The Sunday Times. The news outlet reported on Saturday that Farage was gifted staff, security, transport and accommodation by George Cottrell, an aristocrat involved in an offshore crypto casino who has been a close adviser to Farage for more than 10 years.Farage said in a statement on Sunday that he “followed the rules” over the gifts from Cottrell, which he received before he was elected a member of parliament in July 2024, and called The Times’ report a “hit job.”It is the second time Farage has faced reports of undeclared gifts from wealthy figures tied to crypto, an industry he has advocated for while in parliament that is facing increasing regulatory scrutiny, with the Treasury having temporarily banned political donations made in cryptocurrencies in March.A parliamentary standards watchdog opened an inquiry in May over whether Farage failed to declare a 5 million British pounds ($6.7 million) gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, who partly owns stablecoin giant Tether.Nigel Farage appears at the Bitcoin 2025 conference holding his party’s draft crypto legislation. Source: Gage SkidmoreFarage has argued he does not need to declare Harborne’s gift, as it was given to him to pay for personal security before he was an MP.Cottrell’s reported gifts include security, use of houseThe Sunday Times reported that Cottrell, who is involved in a gambling site called Tether.bet that uses the Tether (USDt) stablecoin, provided Farage with drivers and security made up primarily of former soldiers.Cottrell also reportedly recruited and paid for three staff members to help with the Reform leader’s social media and, since the election, has let Farage use a rented five-story house near Buckingham Palace. A Reform source told The Times that Farage almost always stayed at his own home and did not routinely use the property.Farage registered only one benefit from Cottrell upon entering Parliament, a benefit of less than 9,300 British pounds ($12,400) for travel, security and accommodation to attend an event in Belgium.In 2016, Cottrell was arrested and charged in the US with 21 offenses for his role in a money laundering plot. He pleaded guilty to a single wire fraud charge after a plea deal and spent eight months in prison.Farage reported over alleged crypto lobbyingThe Times’ report follows a report in The Guardian on Friday that the standards commissioner was urged to investigate whether Farage lobbied the Bank of England to drop its digital currency plans.Related: Crypto billionaires bankroll Nigel Farage’s pro-crypto partyLabour MP and chair of a parliamentary anti-corruption group, Phil Brickell, reported Farage to the commissioner, saying he “claimed credit for persuading the Bank to soften its position” on a central bank digital currency.Brickell said that Harborne “stood to benefit from opposition to a state-backed digital currency that could compete with private stablecoins.”“This is not simply a debate about cryptocurrency. It is about whether an MP who has received millions from one individual should be lobbying for policies that could increase the value and profitability of that [Reform] donor’s investments,” said Brickell.Farage and Reform have championed crypto, with the party publishing draft legislation last year with the goal of making the UK “the world’s premier hub for cryptocurrency.”Reform was also the first UK political party to accept donations in Bitcoin (BTC). Farage has also proposed cutting capital gains taxes on crypto from 24% to 10% and called for the Bank of England to create a Bitcoin reserve.Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026
Today in crypto, a newly revealed wallet exploit raised fresh security concerns, Binance saw $1.23 billion leave the exchange in a week as Ethereum withdrawals hit a three-year high and Vitalik Buterin mapped out Ethereum’s next major evolution with a focus on quantum resistance.Thousands of crypto wallets at risk from ‘Ill Bloom’ vulnerability: CoinspectThousands of crypto wallets are at risk of being drained due to the use of weaker-than-intended recovery phrases, an exploit that Blockchain security research firm Coinspect has dubbed “Ill Bloom.”The wallets at risk span Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Rootstock, Tron and Solana, Coinspect said in a disclosure on Sunday, with the issue related to weak randomness — an insecure pseudorandom number generator — used during recovery phrase generation on certain software wallets. “If funds recently moved without your permission, this vulnerability may be why,” Coinspect said. The vulnerability has impacted wallets generated as early as 2018 and more often occurs in lesser-known mobile software wallets. At least $5 million has been drained from exposed wallets since May 27, though there could have been exploits on additional networks and addresses, meaning the number of wallets at risk may be much higher. Binance outflows triple to $1.2B as ETH withdrawals hit 3-year highBinance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, recorded a sharp surge in weekly outflows as Ethereum withdrawal activity climbed to a multi-year high.According to DefiLlama data viewed by Cointelegraph on Sunday, Binance saw $1.23 billion in net outflows during the week beginning June 29, a 207% increase from roughly $400 million the week prior, while monthly net outflows totaled about $3.2 billion.Source: DefiLlamaSeparately, CryptoQuant community analyst Darkfost reported Friday that Binance’s Ethereum withdrawal transactions hit their highest level in more than three years, with over 166,000 withdrawal transactions in a single day.While some of the movement may reflect accumulation behavior, Darkfost pointed to regulatory uncertainty stemming from the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and short-term market positioning as possible drivers.Vitalik Buterin shares top priorities for new ‘Lean Ethereum’ strawmapEthereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has named quantum resistance, scalability and privacy as three of Ethereum’s top priorities under a new “Lean Ethereum” strawmap, which lays out the network’s technical direction for the remainder of the decade. In a post to X on Saturday, Buterin said the collection of upgrades will roll out over the next three to four years, touching nearly every layer of Ethereum in a transformation he compared in scale to the September 2022 Merge, which shifted the network away from energy-intensive mining. “Quantum safety has shifted up a LOT in priority,” he said, adding that finalizing a quantum-safe solution for blobs has “become urgent.” Enhancing privacy is another priority, Buterin said, stating that it has become a “first class goal.”The “Lean Ethereum” strawmap timeline from 2026 through to 2029. Source: Strawmap.orgThe change in roadmap comes amid a series of changes at the Ethereum Foundation, which laid off roughly 20% of its staff last month in a bid to become leaner and reduce its budget by 40%.The leaner structure comes on top of several executive departures in recent months, including Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak, while protocol contributors Tim Beiko and Barnabé Monnot also left in May.Buterin is also pushing for the development of a new virtual machine like leanISA or RISC-V to support programmable privacy and better scalability.
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Lighter (LIT) surged more than 20% on Monday to $2.6, its highest level since January, after the perpetuals exchange unveiled a tokenomics overhaul that adds permanent burns and a revamped staking model. The move made LIT the top gainer among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies. It extended a rally that has lifted the token roughly 40% […]
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A Polymarket account known as “coldsway” has lost $11.6 million betting on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with only four of 15 positions finishing in profit. The wallet achieved these substantial losses in only 10 days. Polymarket data shows coldsway’s win rate stood at 26.7%. The trader earned $4.23 million on four winning bets but […]
On July 3, ESMA issued a statement warning that some event contracts resembling binary options could fall under current derivatives regulation. The regulator stressed that firms offering these instruments should assess whether these contracts fall under this classification to comply with regulatory requirements. Europe Puts Its Sights on Binary Options-Like Event Markets The European Securities […]
