Farage presses Bank of England to embrace cryptocurrencies in talks with Bailey

Nigel Farage urged the Bank of England to welcome cryptocurrencies during talks at Threadneedle Street on Thursday morning, in his first formal meeting with Governor Andrew Bailey. He used the engagement with Bailey to press for a rethink of the Bank’s quantitative easing policy and a more open approach to digital assets. Despite previously branding Bailey as hopeless, Farage described the discussions as positive and said the tone of the talks was constructive. Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, attended the session and called it a significant moment, adding that Bailey appeared keen to engage. The meeting comes as Reform maintains a lead over Labour in most polls and as the party continues to push for a broader re-evaluation of monetary policy.

The session was arranged after Bailey reportedly reached out to Farage to set up the meeting, with Farage and Tice making the case that the Bank’s current approach was not fit for a modern financial system. Farage has long criticised the Bank as dinosaurs that stifle growth by constraining cryptocurrency ownership. He has also been a persistent critic of the Bank’s QE programme, which he characterises as printing money to buy government bonds and keep borrowing costs low. Reform has proposed a £40 billion tax cut funded by ending the interest paid to banks on reserves held at Threadneedle Street—reserves largely created during QE.

Ahead of the talks, Farage signaled that cryptocurrency would be a key topic and described the UK’s existing approach as madness, while Tice said the focus would also be on the costs associated with QE. Farage has positioned himself as a vocal advocate for crypto in recent years, including an announcement in May that Reform would begin accepting donations in Bitcoin and a call for the Bank to create a strategic reserve of the digital asset. After the meeting, Farage said the cryptocurrency discussions were encouraging but that the Bank was moving too slowly on the issue, noting that officials indicated they were open to considering crypto and were not closing their minds on the matter.

Reform said Bailey had acknowledged that QE and QT (quantitative tightening) are important public policy debates and that he would welcome more parliamentary engagement. In a subsequent statement, Tice argued that if Parliament, via the Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave a different steer to the Bank, it could significantly reduce the need for tax rises at the Budget. He added that he would write to the Chancellor and the Leader of the House requesting an urgent debate as soon as Parliament returns.

The notes accompanying the meeting underscore ongoing contention over monetary strategy and digital assets, with Reform framing crypto-friendly policy as integral to growth and fiscal relief. Farage and his party have repeatedly linked crypto policy to broader questions about the Bank’s independence and the government's fiscal stance, arguing that a more flexible approach to digital currencies could alter the calculus around public debt and borrowing costs. The Bank of England has previously stressed caution around volatile assets, but the afternoon’s discussions indicate a willingness to engage with political voices on how to align monetary policy with rapidly evolving financial technologies.

For supporters of Reform, the meeting signals a potential opening for broader parliamentary discourse on QE and QT, and a shift in how the central bank interacts with nontraditional assets. Critics may view the exchange as a political maneuver within a tight electoral landscape, but attendees described the session as a constructive step toward bridging policy differences. Any concrete policy moves would require sustained engagement across Parliament and likely legislative changes to how reserves and interest payments are structured, as well as how the Bank conceptualizes its role in a digital economy.

As the political discourse evolves, observers will watch whether the Bank’s posture toward cryptocurrencies becomes more explicit and whether there is a formal mechanism to incorporate digital assets into monetary policy discussions. Farage’s insistence on a tangible crypto-friendly policy, paired with Reform’s broader fiscal agenda, could influence the broader debate over how the Bank of England balances financial innovation with price stability and debt management in the coming months.