UAE official Tahnoon owns 49% of Trump family crypto bank, WSJ says
A UAE national security advisor holds the biggest stake in the Trump family crypto bank's holding company, the WSJ reports, adding to scrutiny of foreign financial ties.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE national security advisor, holds a 49% stake in the holding company for the Trump family's planned crypto bank, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Tahnoon and his co-investors control StringZ Holding RSC, which owns that stake in WLTC Holdings. An entity tied to Trump's family holds another 38%, the Journal said.
The WSJ report casts Tahnoon as the largest investor behind World Liberty Financial's bank venture. The UAE official's involvement deepens a financial relationship that began in January 2025, when he and other investors put $500 million into World Liberty in exchange for a 49% stake. That deal directed $263 million to Trump family entities, according to Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty preliminary conditional approval this month to charter a national trust bank. The bank would issue and safeguard USD1, the firm's dollar-backed stablecoin, but must meet extra conditions before opening.
World Liberty spokesman David Wachsman called the firm "a private American financial technology company, not a political organization" and said its trust company has separate governance. "No one at World Liberty works for the U.S. government and there are no conflicts of interest," he said, adding that it neither seeks nor receives special treatment. He did not address the ownership structure reported by the Journal.
The arrangement has drawn scrutiny because Tahnoon is a foreign government official and the Trump administration has negotiated with the UAE over access to advanced AI chips. The administration approved chip sales to G42, a state-backed AI company Tahnoon controls, and last month eased limits on how many chips it could purchase.
Trump's businesses generated at least $59.5 million in foreign licensing revenue in the first year of his second term, CNBC previously reported. The White House has said Trump "only acts in the best interest of the American public" and denied conflicts of interest.
The Journal's report did not specify a timeline for the bank's launch.
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