Boris Johnson received record $1.2M donation from serial crypto investor

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has reportedly received a record-breaking £1 million ($1.2 million) donation from a Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor and Bitifinex/Tether parent company shareholder.

Friday’s updated register of interests reveals how Christopher Harborne made the record gift to Boris Johnson LTD, the former PM’s political office that funds his activities.

Read more: Brexit’s top donor outed as Bitfinex, Tether parent shareholder

The register also discloses how Johnson made more than a quarter of a million pounds from the blockchain company ParallelChain Lab for a talk he gave in Singapore.

In 2021, Protos reported how Harborne, using his alter ego, Chakrit Sakunkrit, held shares in Digifinex (Bitfinex and Tethers’ parent company) between 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Harborne began to contribute funding to pro-Brexit campaigns and has reportedly donated £15 million ($18.3 million) to the UK’s Conservative Party, the Brexit Party, and Reform UK.

Backing Boris and crypto

Harborne has previously been involved in several blockchain and crypto-focused groups, including:

• Digital Currencies Governance Group (DCGG), a set of UK crypto advocates that listed Harborne as a lobbyist during its first six months. 
• INSEAD’s Blockchain Research Fund, a blockchain initiative funded by Harborne and created by his former university. INSEAD is also a listed partner of DCGG.
• Seamico Securities, a financial services company. Harborne is listed by Bloomberg under his Thai identity as a former board member. Four years ago, Seamico made plans to tokenize the real estate industry.
• Singular AI Consulting Limited, a tech company (dissolved as of October 2022) co-founded by Harborne and Genesis co-founder and CEO, Marco Andreas Streng.

Johnson resigned in July 2022 after a series of scandals.

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