Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)
On the evening of March 12, a major news about Binance's financing quickly ignited the industry.
Binance officially announced that it has reached a $2 billion investment agreement with MGX, an artificial intelligence and advanced technology investment company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, MGX will acquire a minority stake in Binance. This investment is the first institutional investment Binance has accepted, and it is also the largest single financial investment in the history of cryptocurrencies, and it may be the largest investment ever paid in cryptocurrency (stablecoin).
What is MGX? Why is it so wealthy and able to invest in a company the size of Binance?
There is very little public information on MGX's website, but from these few announcements, we can clearly see the specific background of the institution.
The official information shows that MGX was established on January 22, 2024, and is positioned as a technology investment company, focusing on accelerating the development and adoption of AI and advanced technologies through the establishment of world-leading partnerships in the United Arab Emirates and globally. MGX focuses on investing in areas where AI can provide large-scale value and economic impact, including semiconductors, infrastructure, software, technology-enabled services, life sciences, and physical AI.
But this is not the key content.
The official information mentions that the chairman of MGX's board of directors is Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan (hereinafter referred to as Tahnoun), who is also the Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and the chairman of the UAE Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Committee (AIATC).
From another perspective, we can more clearly explain the identity of Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan - he is the son of the founding President of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahayan, and the younger brother of the current President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Bloomberg once described Tahnoun in a 2024 report as — he controls over $1.5 trillion in state-owned assets and private funds, which would be a huge opportunity for any fund manager or financial professional to meet him (even for just 10 minutes).
On the executive side, the CEO of MGX is Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, who previously served as CEO of the direct investment platform under the UAE state-owned investment company Mubadala, with over 30 years of operational and investment experience.
The information shows that Mubadala and another UAE state-owned company G42 were both founding strategic partners of MGX - Wikipedia has a more straightforward explanation, that MGX was jointly initiated by these two entities, and the chairmen of these two institutions are Mohamed and Tahnoun.
In short, MGX is a thoroughly UAE sovereign investment institution, backed by one of the wealthiest families in the Middle East, if not the entire world.
In addition, in the few official announcements of MGX, it also mentioned the cooperative relationships between MGX and major players such as BlackRock, Microsoft, and GIP.
More details about this financing are still to be disclosed, but according to Binance's official announcement, Binance's current CEO Richard Teng previously served as the CEO of the Abu Dhabi Financial Services Regulatory Authority, and he may have played a key role in this financing.
In summary, with the completion of this financing, a new chapter in Binance's compliance process in the Middle East market will begin.
Since its inception in 2017, Binance, a startup born in the emerging cryptocurrency market, has grown into a giant that the mainstream world cannot ignore, alongside the rapid development of the cryptocurrency market.
An old era is quietly coming to an end, but a new era has already begun.
