Behind the $500 Million Deal: Abu Dhabi Royal Family Acquires Major Stake in Trump-Linked Crypto Venture
In the final days before Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, a significant and quietly negotiated financial transaction was sealed. Representatives acting for Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan—a prominent United Arab Emirates national security advisor and brother to the UAE’s president—finalized a $500 million investment into World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded by the Trump family. The deal, confirmed by the company to Fortune, granted an entity tied to the sheikh a 49% stake in one of the Trump family’s most ambitious digital asset ventures.
The investment, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, immediately draws attention to the complex web connecting U.S. political power, global finance, and the burgeoning crypto industry. Sheikh Tahnoon, who oversees UAE intelligence operations and is sometimes dubbed the "spy sheikh," is a central figure in Abu Dhabi’s strategic investments. The two lieutenants who signed the agreement also hold senior roles at G42, an Abu Dhabi-backed technology and AI conglomerate that recently gained U.S. government approval to access advanced semiconductor chips—a separate deal that has sparked its own geopolitical scrutiny.
When questioned in May about G42’s potential involvement, Eric Trump, son of the President and co-founder of World Liberty Financial, remained evasive. "I’m not going to get into who the investors are," he told Fortune, "but we’ve got some pretty meaningful investors." The company later stated that any suggestion the investment was related to U.S. policy on AI chips was "100% false," calling such claims "ridiculous and un-American."
The White House, through spokesperson Anna Kelly, emphasized that President Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and asserted there are "no conflicts of interest." However, the deal amplifies longstanding concerns about the Trump family’s crypto enterprises, which consistently leverage the President’s name and brand. From the promotion of personal memecoins by the President and First Lady to the family’s backing of Bitcoin mining operations, the business activities have operated in a grey zone between personal venture and political profile.
World Liberty Financial, launched in 2024 as a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, aims to replicate traditional banking services like lending and borrowing on the blockchain. Its journey has been marked by aggressive fundraising: initially selling a cryptocurrency for $550 million before launching its own dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD1. The stablecoin saw a notable boost after another Abu Dhabi-linked venture firm, MGX, used it in a $2 billion investment into crypto giant Binance.
Analysts note that the Abu Dhabi investment provides not just capital but also a layer of international legitimacy and networking clout to a venture that sits at the crossroads of finance, technology, and political influence. For the UAE, it represents a deepening foothold in the crypto sector through a channel uniquely connected to U.S. leadership.
Reaction & Analysis:
"This is a classic case of strategic positioning," says Marcus Thorne, a geopolitical risk analyst at Veritas Insights. "Abu Dhabi is securing influence and access through financial partnerships in a high-growth sector. The proximity to the Trump administration is undoubtedly a feature, not a bug, of this deal."
Eleanor Vance, a former SEC regulator and now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, offers a more cautious take: "The regulatory environment for crypto remains fragmented. While there’s no evidence of illegality, the scale and timing of foreign investment into a presidential family business warrant transparent disclosure—something currently lacking."
In contrast, Jake Rivera, a political commentator and host of the "American Ledger" podcast, reacted sharply: "Are we seriously pretending this is normal? Days before inauguration, a foreign spy chief buys half of the President’s family crypto company. This isn't an investment; it's a direct channel for potential influence-peddling, wrapped in blockchain buzzwords. The conflict of interest is glaring, and the dismissal from the White House is insulting."
Priya Sharma, a fintech reporter for The Financial Chronicle, notes the commercial context: "Regardless of the politics, this infusion of capital validates the Trump family’s serious play in the DeFi space. World Liberty now has the war chest to compete with established crypto-finance players, provided it can navigate the looming regulatory storms."
This report was developed from original reporting by Fortune.com.