BitMEX co-founder pledges $27M to London maths institute after Trump pardon

Ben Delo paid a $10 million fine after pleading guilty to US banking violations in 2022 and was granted a pardon by President Donald Trump in March 2025.

BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo pledged 20 million British pounds ($27 million) to the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences (LIMS), ranking among the largest private donations ever made to a United Kingdom research institution outside Oxford and Cambridge, British magazine Times Higher Education reported on Tuesday.

The commitment includes $13.3 million upfront and $13.3 million to be released once the Mayfair-based institute matches the amount through additional fundraising, Times Higher Education reported. The gift launches a wider campaign aimed at building an $80 million endowment to secure LIMS’ long-term future, per the report.

“I would like to see LIMS winning Fields Medals and Nobel Prizes – they are already doing some world-class things and I want to help,” Delo told the magazine.

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