A Trump-linked crypto venture has pulled in $500M from investors tied to the United Arab Emirates, setting off a new round of conflict of interest questions as President Donald Trump manages ties with Abu Dhabi.
The company, World Liberty Financial, confirmed the deal on Saturday through its spokesman, after the Wall Street Journal detailed how an Emirati-backed vehicle took a 49% stake in the business.
The agreement was signed by Eric Trump just days before Trump’s Jan. 2025 inauguration, according to The Journal, and it made the Trump family business partners with UAE-linked capital at the same time the administration pursued major bilateral priorities.
Abu Dhabi Royal’s Inner Circle Joins Trump-Linked Crypto Venture
The new investor group is linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE national security adviser and a powerful Abu Dhabi royal whose network spans technology, finance and national security.
Two senior figures connected to his orbit joined World Liberty’s board, adding to the scrutiny around governance and influence.
When asked about the terms and timing, World Liberty spokesman David Wachsman reportedly said, “We made the deal in question because we strongly believe that it was what was best for our company as we continue to grow.”
Attention has sharpened because the crypto tie-up sits alongside wider UAE ambitions in artificial intelligence and access to advanced US chips.
White House Denies Any Link Between Chips And Crypto Investment
Reporting has linked the timelines of the business relationship and the administration’s chip discussions, even as coverage has said it found no evidence of an explicit trade of chips for crypto investment.
World Liberty and the White House have denied any linkage. Wachsman said that “any claim that this deal had anything to do with the administration’s actions on chips is 100 percent false.”
The White House counsel, David Warrington, also rejected the conflict framing, saying, “The president has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities,” and adding that Trump performs his duties “in an ethically sound manner.”
Even so, the company’s UAE connections have expanded beyond the equity stake. At a Dubai conference in May 2025, a co-founder said Abu Dhabi-backed MGX used World Liberty’s dollar-pegged stablecoin for a $2B investment in Binance, a move that tied the venture more closely to major Gulf-backed crypto capital flows.
Trump’s financial disclosures have also kept the project in the political spotlight, with reporting describing it as a meaningful revenue stream tied to a Trump-controlled entity, alongside arrangements that share revenue with other partners linked to the administration’s Middle East orbit.
Democrats have seized on the overlap. Senator Elizabeth Warren called the revelations a national security concern and urged tougher oversight, saying, “This is corruption, plain and simple,” and adding, “Congress needs to grow a spine and put a stop to Trump’s crypto corruption.”
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