The UAE Crown Prince secretly bought 49% of the Trump family's crypto project. Photo: Financial Times
Selling shares in secret ahead of taking office.
An investment arm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan – the National Security Advisor of the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) and brother of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed – quietly acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a cryptocurrency project linked to the Donald Trump family , just days before the US presidential inauguration in January 2025.
According to the Wall Street Journal , the $500 million deal was signed by Eric Trump on behalf of the project four days before his inauguration but was never publicly announced. The buyer was Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi-based entity backed by Sheikh Tahnoon.
The agreement stipulated that half of the money would be paid immediately. Approximately $187 million went to companies controlled by the Trump family, and at least $31 million flowed into entities linked to the family of Steve Witkoff – the real estate mogul who co-founded World Liberty Financial and was later appointed U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East. His son, Zach Witkoff, is currently the project's CEO.
Senior leaders of G42 – the artificial intelligence conglomerate chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon – have become involved in the management of Aryam Investment 1 and simultaneously hold seats on the board of directors of WLFI, making the UAE royal family's investment arm the largest outside shareholder in this crypto project.
New revelations help explain the previously puzzling shift in World Liberty Financial's shareholder structure. In June 2025, it was reported that DT Marks DeFi LLC – a company linked to the Trump family and behind the project – reduced its stake in World Liberty's parent company from 60% to 40%, a sharp drop from 75% at the end of 2024. At the time, the company did not disclose the buyer's identity.
If Aryam's 49% investment is allocated proportionally to the dilution from all existing shareholders, calculations show that DT Marks' ownership stake would decrease to approximately 38%, closely matching the figure currently published on the WLFI website. This development further reinforces the possibility that the deal with the UAE side is the key factor behind the Capital structure change.
The deal further fueled attention to the growing financial ties between World Liberty Financial and the strategic interests of the UAE. Just weeks before the Trump administration announced a framework allowing the UAE to import millions of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips annually, another company led by Sheikh Tahnoon, MGX, used World Liberty's own USD1 stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in Binance.
That transaction helped make USD1 one of the fastest-growing stablecoins by market Capital , with over $5 billion in circulation. The Washington Post reported that the Token Issuance alone generated over $57 million in revenue for the project.
The timing of World Liberty's crypto deals and decisions to ease AI chip export restrictions to the UAE has brought this relationship to the forefront of attention in Washington.
Political pressure is increasing.
In September 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Elissa Slotkin called for an investigation into potential conflicts of interest involving Steve Witkoff and the White House's "AI and Crypto Tsar," David Sacks . This move was based on a New York Times investigation that described the close ties between World Liberty Financial's UAE deals and the US administration's negotiations on chip exports.
More recently, Warren has continued to push for a congressional hearing, calling the deal with Sheikh Tahnoon a potential risk to national security, given that the main investor is both a UAE security official and a major financial partner in a project linked to the US President's family.
In response to the investigation allegations , World Liberty Financial and the White House both denied any wrongdoing. A spokesperson asserted that Mr. Trump was not involved in the transaction and that it did not influence U.S. policy decisions.
The project has also repeatedly emphasized that President Trump and his family are not involved in day-to-day operations. The operation is handled by leaders with crypto backgrounds, including CEO Zach Witkoff and co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro.
Sheikh Tahnoon is a key figure in the strategy to make the UAE a global hub for AI and high technology. G42, the conglomerate he heads, was previously restricted from accessing advanced chips under President JOE Biden due to national security concerns related to its past ties with Chinese businesses.
These restrictions were lifted under Trump. In November 2025, the US government approved the sale to G42 of computing power equivalent to approximately 35,000 Nvidia GB300 processors, the company's most advanced AI chip line. (Financial Times) It was also reported that the UAE is currently pursuing large-scale AI data center projects in Abu Dhabi, with the participation of American technology partners.
World Liberty Financial was founded in October 2024 and quickly expanded into issuing stablecoins, DeFi lending , and is currently seeking a national trust bank license to bring its USD1 operations under federal supervision. The project lists President Trump and his three children – Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron Trump – as co-founders.
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