![\"Local](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6f6ffb107c44d6faf2beb114eb05f1ad.jpeg\")
Thailand-based Christopher Harborne has broken records for his political donations to Reform UK (Jordan Pettitt\/PA) \u00b7 Jordan Pettitt <\/p>\nThe cryptocurrency investor behind a \u00a35 million gift to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been identified as one of Britain\u2019s wealthiest billionaires, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.<\/p>\n
The annual list of the Britain\u2019s richest people has also shone a light on the growing fortunes of tech and finance entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
Christopher Harborne, who has broken records for his political donations to Reform, was a new entrant on the 2026 list.<\/p>\n
The entrepreneur and investor came in at sixth place with an estimated wealth of \u00a318.2 billion.<\/p>\n
While living and working in Thailand for more than 20 years, the British billionaire has grown investments and shareholdings in financial companies including Tether, the crypto platform with an estimated valuation of roughly 200 billion US dollars.<\/p>\n
He also has major investments in London-listed defence technology firm Qinetiq and payments provider IFX, as well as other aerospace businesses.<\/p>\n
It is understood that Mr Harborne\u2019s wealth could be larger than that estimated by the Rich List as some is held overseas or could not be identified by the researchers.<\/p>\n
Mr Harborne has been thrust into the public eye over a \u00a35 million gift to Mr Farage in 2024.<\/p>\n
Thailand-based Christopher Harborne has broken records for his political donations to Reform UK (Jordan Pettitt\/PA) \u00b7 Jordan Pettitt <\/p>\n
Mr Farage is facing an investigation by the Commons sleaze watchdog, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, for the undeclared gift which he has insisted was not connected to his political activity and was needed to pay for private security for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n
Mr Harborne has separately donated millions to Reform, including a \u00a39 million donation in August 2025 \u2013 the biggest single donation in history to a political party from a living person.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere on the Rich List, entrepreneurs with blooming fortunes include Revolut co-founder Nik Storonksy with a wealth of \u00a316.4 billion, taking him to seventh place and making him the biggest riser of 2026.<\/p>\n
His personal wealth has ballooned with average gains of \u00a325.8 million a day since last year\u2019s list, driven by a fresh fundraise valuing Revolut at around 75 billion dollars (\u00a355.6 billion).<\/p>\n
Alex Gerko, the mathematician behind trading platform XTX Markets, is close behind Mr Storonsky on the list with an estimated wealth of \u00a316 billion \u2013 with average daily gains of \u00a319.9 million over the past year.<\/p>\n
Both Moscow-born entrepreneurs have publicly opposed Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, renounced their Russian citizenship and become UK nationals.<\/p>\n
Revolut co-founder Nik Storonsky was the biggest riser on the 2026 Rich List (Revolut\/PA) <\/p>\n
On the other hand, one of the biggest fallers on this year\u2019s list include entrepreneur and inventor Sir James Dyson and his family, whose wealth is estimated to have dropped by \u00a38.8 billion to \u00a312 billion, putting them at 13th place.<\/p>\n
It follows a decline in revenues for the Dyson electricals giant, after being hit by higher tariffs on US imports under President Donald Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the latest research revealed an ongoing exodus of wealth from the UK following the Government\u2019s non-dom crackdown and inheritance tax changes.<\/p>\n
One in six people and families who featured on the Rich List two years ago did not appear on the 2026 rankings, with researchers pointing to more home-grown British billionaires relocating to regions like Dubai and Monaco.<\/p>\n
Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: \u201cMany foreign billionaires who have been living in the UK have dropped out because they have moved away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also seen a sharp rise in the number of British nationals now resident in Dubai, Switzerland and Monaco. As UK nationals these people remain on our Rich List \u2013 wherever they now live.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese two exoduses pose challenges for the UK economy and its public finances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill more of the wealthy now set up or grow their ventures overseas and in doing so create fewer jobs here? How much tax \u2013 if any \u2013 will Rachel Reeves\u2019 Treasury be able to extract from those affluent Brits who have now left the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cryptocurrency investor behind a \u00a35 million gift to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been identified as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,18066,18068,95,18091,408,18056,18031],"class_list":{"0":"post-36886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-christopher-harborne","10":"tag-mr-harborne","11":"tag-nigel-farage","12":"tag-personal-wealth","13":"tag-reform-uk","14":"tag-rich-list","15":"tag-sunday-times-rich-list"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116577290377771200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}