A British scientist who claims humans could live for a million years has received $6m backing from cryptocurrency tycoons, including the 24-year-old co-founder of ether.

Aubrey de Grey, chief science officer at the Sens Research Foundation in California, believes a “post-ageing world” is imminent.

The foundation has been heavily supported by the PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel. In the past two months, however, de Grey has received $2.4m (£1.7m) of ether tokens from Vitalik Buterin, whose creation is the second-largest digital currency. Buterin has an estimated $400m fortune.

De Grey has also received $4m from three anonymous bitcoin millionaires. He told The Sunday Times’s Danny in the Valley podcast there was “enormous crossover” between his field and the cryptocurrency world.

De Grey, 54, believes the body