{"id":889682,"date":"2026-02-02T23:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/02\/trump-denies-knowledge-of-abu-dhabi-royals-500m-stake-in-wlfi\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T23:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:12:20","slug":"trump-denies-knowledge-of-abu-dhabi-royals-500m-stake-in-wlfi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/02\/trump-denies-knowledge-of-abu-dhabi-royals-500m-stake-in-wlfi\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump denies knowledge of Abu Dhabi royal\u2018s $500M stake in WLFI"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"html-renderer-container\">\n<p>US President Donald Trump has denied knowledge of a reported multimillion-dollar deal between his family and an Abu Dhabi royal for a significant stake in the World Liberty Financial crypto platform. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know about it,\u201d Trump told reporters on Monday when asked about his involvement in the deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy sons are handling that \u2014 my family is handling it,\u201d Trump added. \u201cI guess they get investments from different people.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>JUST IN: \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea President Trump says he did not know Abu Dhabi invested $500 million in his World Liberty crypto project. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know about it. My sons are handling that, I guess they get investments from people.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AOBosetnpE\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/AOBosetnpE<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Bitcoin Black (@Bitcoinblacck) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Bitcoinblacck\/status\/2018467589744377983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">February 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/policy\/spy-sheikh-secret-stake-trump-crypto-tahnoon-ea4d97e8\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> on Saturday that Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family in the United Arab Emirates, <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/uae-backed-firm-buys-49-percent-trump-linked-world-liberty-wsj\">purchased a 49% stake in WLFI<\/a> for $500 million four days before Trump was inaugurated.<\/p>\n<p>The WSJ report was based on WLFI documents and comments from people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">The first installment from a Tahnoon-backed company, Aryam Investment 1, was reported to be $250 million, of which $187 million was directed to Trump-family entities.<\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">Another $31 million was directed to an entity tied to two of WLF\u2019s founders, Zak Folkman and Chase Herro.<\/p>\n<p><template data-ct-widget=\"buzzsprout\" data-buzzsprout-podcast-id=\"2040516\" data-buzzsprout-episode-id=\"18190687\"><\/template><\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">The agreement would make Aryam WLFI\u2019s largest shareholder, <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/wlfi-faces-backlash-usd1-governance-vote-locked-holders\">raising concerns<\/a> over foreign influence in a US crypto company closely tied to the president,<strong> <\/strong>who is one of nine WLFI founders alongside his sons Donald Trump Jr., Eric, and Barron.<\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\"><em><strong>Related: <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/bitcoin-hits-fire-sale-value-as-capital-flows-capitulate-bitwise\"><em><strong>Bitcoin hits \u2018fire-sale\u2019 value as capital flows capitulate: Bitwise<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">Sheikh Tahnoon maintains diplomatic relations with the US and is the chairman of Group 42, an Abu Dhabi-based AI conglomerate that secured approval from the US Department of Commerce to purchase advanced chips from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices in December.<\/p>\n<h2>Senator criticizes Trump\u2019s crypto ties<\/h2>\n<p>The report of Sheikh Tahnoon\u2019s stake in WLFI could add to <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/democrats-file-amendments-crypto-market-structure\">regulatory and media scrutiny<\/a> over Trump\u2019s ties to crypto. <\/p>\n<p>In January, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the country\u2019s banking regulator to hold off on considering World Liberty Financial\u2019s bid for a bank charter until Trump divests his interest in the crypto platform.\u00a0  <\/p>\n<p>The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency later <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/occ-to-still-review-trump-backed-wlf-bank-charter-application\">knocked back<\/a> Warren\u2019s bid, stating that no political or personal financial ties would impact the procedural review and that it would be subject to the same \u201crigorous review\u201d as any application.<\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">WLFI spokesman David Wachsman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-02-02\/trump-denies-knowledge-of-500-million-abu-dhabi-crypto-stake\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">echoed<\/a> a similar sentiment to Bloomberg:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe idea that, when raising capital, a privately held American company should be held to some unique standard that no other similar company would be held is both ridiculous and un-American.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em><strong>Magazine: <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/crypto-loves-clawdbot-moltbot-ethereum-uber-ratings-for-ai-agents-ai-eye\/\"><em><strong>Crypto loves Clawdbot\/Moltbot, Uber ratings for AI agents: AI Eye<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><template data-name=\"subscription_form\" data-type=\"markets_outlook\" label=\"Subscription Form: Markets Outlook\"><\/template><\/div>\n<p>Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph\u2019s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy <a href=\"http:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/editorial-policy\">https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/editorial-policy<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/trump-denies-involvement-500m-uae-wlfi-stake?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Cointelegraph by Brayden Lindrea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US President Donald Trump has denied knowledge of a reported multimillion-dollar deal between his family and an Abu Dhabi royal for a significant stake in the World Liberty Financial crypto platform. \u201cI don\u2019t know about it,\u201d Trump told reporters on Monday when asked about his involvement in the deal. \u201cMy sons are handling that \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":889683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[994,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-889682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denies","category-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}