Nigel Farage has urged the Bank of England to welcome cryptocurrency and change its approach to quantitative easing during his first formal meeting with its governor.

The Reform UK leader, who has previously described Bank governor Andrew Bailey as “hopeless”, suggested the meeting had been a positive one.

Mr Farage’s deputy Richard Tice, who also attended the meeting, described it as a “significant moment” and said Mr Bailey was “keen to engage”.

Ahead of the meeting at Threadneedle Street, Mr Farage said he wanted to discuss cryptocurrency with the governor, describing the UK’s current approach as “madness”, while Mr Tice said he wanted to address the cost of the Bank’s money printing programme.

Mr Farage has become a vocal supporter of cryptocurrency in recent years, announcing in May that Reform would begin accepting donations in Bitcoin and calling for the Bank to create a “strategic reserve” of the digital asset.

He also said the Bank was “turning their back on it (cryptocurrency) completely”.

After the meeting, he said their discussion of cryptocurrency had been “encouraging”, but he thought the Bank was still “moving a little too slowly” on the issue.

He said: “I think they’re adopting an overly cautious approach. What he did say was, in that world, that they are looking at it.

“He said ‘our minds are not closed on this issue’.”

Mr Tice also welcomed Mr Bailey’s comments on quantitative easing and quantitative tightening, which Reform has previously criticised as causing significant taxpayer losses.

The party has pledged to save “tens of billions” of pounds by stopping interest payments on central bank deposits and halting quantitative tightening.

Mr Tice has called for a debate on the subject in Parliament to take place ahead of the Budget in November, saying it could change the Chancellor’s calculations.

He said: “We had an important, big discussion about quantitative easing, whether the Bank should be paying interest on that, and what we’ve agreed is, actually, this is a matter for Parliament.”

Mr Farage said: “The debate Richard is trying to have, the governor didn’t say ‘no’, he said we should be having that debate.”

The Reform leader also insisted he had not called for a further interest rate cut, despite reports suggesting he would, telling reporters: “That’s not our job to do that.”

He did not answer when asked whether the Bank’s independence would be safe under a Reform government, saying: “What I think the problem is, I’m not actually sure that in Parliament anyone really understands what the relationship between fiscal policy, monetary policy and the relationship with the Bank is.”

Talking to reporters ahead of his meeting with Mr Bailey, Mr Farage also suggested he would return financial regulation to the Bank of England, claiming the 2008 financial crash would have been less “severe” if the City had not been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Meanwhile, research by campaign group Best for Britain suggested Mr Farage and his party remain vulnerable on the economy.

A survey of 3,000 would-be Reform voters carried out by YouGov found 57% rated attacks on Mr Farage’s spending plans and economic credentials the “most convincing” of a series of negative statements about the party.

Commenting on the results, Labour MP Liam Byrne urged his own party to “reset” its strategy on Reform and “take ruthless aim at the weak centre of their offer”.

The chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee said: “The reality is Nigel Farage is Liz Truss 2.0 – a false preacher of patriotism who would leave Britain poorer but the richest richer.

“He flirts with US-style health insurance, he cheered on the Truss mini-budget and now he’s peddling billions in unfunded promises that mean one thing for working families: higher mortgages, higher bills, weaker rights at work and longer NHS queues.”

India witnessed an unprecedented rise in digital transactions as the Navratri festival season coincided with the biggest GST cuts on high-value consumer items. According to RBI data, total electronic payments soared to Rs 11.31 lakh crore on Monday, nearly 10 times the Rs 1.18 lakh crore recorded the previous day.The momentum continued on Tuesday, with digital payments totaling Rs 11.19 lakh crore, signaling optimism for the festive season. Demand is expected to remain strong throughout Navratri and leading up to Diwali.The recent GST reforms, which halved the number of tax slabs and reduced levies on discretionary items such as cars, motorcycles, and home appliances, have significantly boosted consumer spending. Automotive companies are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries, with levies on many cars reduced to 18% from 28%, prompting increased dealer and consumer bookings.“The conclusion of Shraddh period and the onset of Navratri, coupled with recent GST reductions and deep ecommerce discounts, have significantly lifted consumer sentiment,” said Anand Kumar Bajaj, founder and CEO of PayNearby.“We’re seeing a sharp uptick in spending, particularly on apparel and home appliances, signalling strong festive demand and renewed economic momentum,” he added, a quoted by ET.The surge was particularly noticeable on digital platforms such as UPI, credit cards, debit cards, NEFT, IMPS, and RTGS. During Flipkart and Amazon’s annual 10-day festival sales, credit card spending on ecommerce platforms rose six-fold to Rs 10,411 crore, while debit card spending tripled to Rs 814 crore, highlighting strong demand for high-value purchases.“Following the recent GST relief and the positive market sentiment around it, we’ve seen a noticeable surge in customer engagement and spending. In just the past couple of days, demand has grown by nearly 20%,” said Bikram Yadav, head of credit cards at RBL Bank.“With low inflation, GST relief and upbeat consumer sentiment, we anticipate strong festive spending across categories such as ecommerce, travel and electronics,” added Bikram.Among all digital channels, the largest value of transactions occurred via RTGS, the preferred method for high-value payments, which jumped to Rs 8.14 lakh crore from Rs 17,166 crore a day earlier. Large purchases such as cars, typically booked by dealers and end customers, are often routed through RTGS, reported ET.