The secretive crypto firm backed by Farage's biggest donor

A little-known crypto firm called Tether, which runs the world's biggest stablecoin (USDT), has become a massive financial player, buying more gold than anyone else last year and holding as much US government debt as some G20 nations. The company, which operates like a private central bank with only 200 employees, stores its gold in a former Swiss nuclear bunker. Tether is entangled in questions around the funding of Nigel Farage's Reform party because one of its significant shareholders, Christopher Harborne, has made substantial donations to the party, including a record £9m gift. Harborne also gave a previously undisclosed £5m personal gift to Farage. Farage has raised the issue of cryptocurrency regulation with the Bank of England's governor, Andrew Bailey, specifically concerning potential limits on sterling stablecoin holdings, though Bailey stated the intervention did not change policy and that Farage did not mention Tether by name.