Nigel Farage became the star of the crypto conference. Not everyone’s happy

Nigel Farage says he will make London a crypto hotbed “when I’m in Number 10.”

The Reform Party leader made the pledge on stage during the Zebu Live conference in London on Wednesday.

“I want to bring in digital assets and crypto from the cold in London, to have that regulatory framework under which everybody can operate,” Farage told the audience.

Farage’s fireside chat is the latest in a string of public pro-crypto performances. Farage, Member of Parliament for Clacton, has spoken at international Bitcoin conferences and made pro-crypto overtures for years, but he and the Reform Party have intensified their vocal support of digital assets in 2025.

That includes accepting Bitcoin donations, attacking the Bank of England for its proposed cap on stablecoin ownership, championing a pro-industry bill, urging the central bank to create a Bitcoin reserve, and pledging to turn the UK into a crypto powerhouse.

Farage repeated several of those talking points at the conference.

Like US President Donald Trump, Farage is seemingly banking on the crypto industry’s support — and the young people who invest in it — to catapult him into power.

‘Terrible thing’

Yet, far from everyone was happy with Farage’s conference appearance.

“It’s a terrible thing,” one attendee said under condition of anonymity to speak freely. “He’s a rightwing nut.”

The attendee said they worried that the industry being seen to inch closer to Farage risks turning crypto into a partisan issue akin to how it is in the US where crypto is heavily associated with the Trump administration.

“My wife asked me if I even wanted to go and risk being associated with him,” the attendee said.

Like Trump, Farage has earned himself both devoted supporters and detractors through his hardline stance on immigration and so-called culture war issues. He was also the leading voice behind Brexit, Britain’s exit from the European Union, which remains a hotly debated topic in the UK nine years after the referendum to leave the bloc.

Farage compared the country’s divorce from the EU with the crypto industry’s efforts to cut away red tape that’s holding it back.

“The European system not only lacked any democracy, but equally, was based even more on the bureaucratic, controlling elements that we discussed,” Farage said. “And I thought leaving the EU was our chance to break away through all of that and to become a more innovative, more competitive and freer nation.

‘Positive attitudes’

Others offered a more nuanced perspective on the Reform Party leader’s fireside chat.

“We welcome the positive attitude towards crypto,” Daniel Slutzkin, head of the UK at crypto exchange Gemini, told DL News at the sidelines of the Zebu Live conference.

Others echoed that sentiment.

“It’s very interesting when any senior politician, or any politician for that matter, shows an interest in digital assets,” Jamie Elkaleh, chief marketing officer at crypto exchange Bitget, told DL News.

Part of the reason behind why many in the industry welcome Reform’s support — if not all its policies — is because of the UK’s lack of crypto laws.

At the moment, it is regulated through the Financial Conduct Authority, which uses existing laws to police the industry. It is currently working on guidelines on how it plans to regulate the industry. Those guidelines are expected in 2026.

The lack of clear rules has held back banks and other financial institutions from partnering with crypto companies, industry insiders say.

“A lot more people will probably come knocking once the FCA has said [they’ll] fully authorise this asset class,” Slutzkin said.

They have a point. US financial institutions have ramped up their adoption of digital assets in anticipation of the Genius Act, the landmark stablecoin bill that Trump signed into law in July. A broader markets bill that will clarify the regulation of the industry is still in the works.

The bet is that if the UK government inks similar bills into laws, it will replicate that adoption.

To be sure, the Reform Party is not alone in being courted by the crypto industry. Industry insiders speaking with DL News make a point out of saying that their organisations are apolitical and that they have engaged with the other UK parties as well.

Indeed, Farage wasn’t the only politician speaking at Zebu Live. Conservative Party Member of the House of Lords, Kulveer Ranger, also spoke at the conference.

Yet, the industry is betting that Reform’s embrace of the industry will incentivise the others to follow suit.

“Hopefully that makes the other parties sit up and take notice,” Bivu Das, Kraken’s UK general manager, told DL News.

“Whether or not the Reform Party will deliver on promises if they ever come into power, I don’t know. The important thing is it is explicitly now part of the conversation,” Das said.

Eric Johansson is DL News managing editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.