{"id":889458,"date":"2026-02-01T23:11:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T05:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/uae-firm-bought-49-of-trump-linked-crypto-startup-for-500m-wsj\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T23:11:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T05:11:43","slug":"uae-firm-bought-49-of-trump-linked-crypto-startup-for-500m-wsj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/uae-firm-bought-49-of-trump-linked-crypto-startup-for-500m-wsj\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE firm bought 49% of Trump-linked crypto startup for $500M: WSJ"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A UAE-backed investment vehicle quietly agreed to buy nearly half of World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency startup linked to President Donald Trump, just days before he returned to the White House, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi entity backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, signed a deal in January 2025 to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million, the Journal said<\/a>, citing documents and people familiar with the matter. <\/p>\n

Half of that amount was paid upfront, sending $187 million to Trump family-controlled entities, with additional tens of millions flowing to entities tied to co-founders, including relatives of US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, per the report. <\/p>\n

The agreement was reportedly signed by Eric Trump. The Journal reported that the deal had not been publicly disclosed, despite World Liberty later revealing that the Trump family\u2019s stake had fallen sharply.<\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong><\/em>Sam Bankman-Fried turns up Trump support following Ellison\u2019s release<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Tahnoon\u2019s ambitions grow after Trump election<\/h2>\n

Tahnoon, the brother of the United Arab Emirates president and the country\u2019s national security adviser, has been central to Abu Dhabi\u2019s push to become a global leader in artificial intelligence. Under the Biden administration, his efforts to secure advanced US-made AI chips were limited amid concerns that sensitive technology could reach China, particularly through companies such as G42.<\/p>\n

Following Trump\u2019s election, those efforts gained momentum. Tahnoon met multiple times with Trump and senior US officials, and within months the administration committed to granting the UAE access to hundreds of thousands of advanced AI chips annually.<\/p>\n

Anatomy of the deal. Source: WSJ<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Journal reported that executives from G42 helped manage Aryam Investment 1 and took board seats at World Liberty as part of the deal, making Aryam the startup\u2019s largest outside shareholder. Weeks before the US-UAE chip framework was announced, another Tahnoon-led firm, MGX, used World Liberty\u2019s stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment into Binance.<\/p>\n

World Liberty and the White House have reportedly denied any wrongdoing. Spokespeople told the Journal that President Trump was not involved in the deal and that it did not provide any influence over US policy. <\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong><\/em>Trump picks crypto-friendly Kevin Warsh as new Fed chair<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

World Liberty faces US probe calls<\/h2>\n

Last year, Democratic senators called on US authorities to investigate<\/a> alleged links between World Liberty Financial\u2019s token sales and sanctioned foreign actors. In a Nov. letter to the Justice Department and Treasury, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed cited claims that WLFI governance tokens were bought by blockchain addresses tied to North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group, as well as Russian- and Iranian-linked entities.<\/p>\n