Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and one of Abu Dhabi’s most powerful royals, is backing the Trump family-linked cryptocurrency venture’s planned U.S. trust bank, extending an already substantial financial relationship between the two sides. Tahnoon and co-investors are behind an entity that owns 49% of WLTC Holdings, the holding company created by World Liberty Financial for its banking venture, according to people familiar with the arrangement cited by The Wall Street Journal.
An entity affiliated with President Donald Trump and members of his family owns another 38% of the holding company. The ownership structure means investors associated with a serving foreign national security official would hold the largest stake in the parent of a federally chartered U.S. trust bank if World Liberty completes the regulatory process. Tahnoon, who is the brother of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, has sometimes been referred to as Abu Dhabi’s “spy sheikh” because of his national-security and intelligence role.
$500 Million World Liberty Deal Extends Into Bank
The bank investment builds on a much larger relationship established shortly before Trump returned to the White House. Four days before his January 2025 inauguration, an investment vehicle backed by Tahnoon agreed to pay $500 million for a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial. Half was paid upfront, with approximately $187 million flowing to Trump family entities and at least $31 million allocated to entities associated with the family of Steve Witkoff, according to earlier reporting. Trump’s latest financial disclosure subsequently indicated that Trump-linked entities ultimately realized approximately $263 million in net proceeds from the transaction. The arrangement has attracted congressional scrutiny because Tahnoon is simultaneously a senior UAE government official with substantial interests in technology and artificial intelligence.
He oversees an investment and business empire valued at more than $1.3 trillion that combines personal wealth with state-backed assets and also chairs Abu Dhabi artificial-intelligence company G42. Months after the World Liberty investment, the Trump administration agreed to provide the UAE with expanded access to advanced American AI chips. Democratic lawmakers have questioned whether the financial relationship influenced those decisions and requested national-security reviews. World Liberty has rejected that connection. A company spokesperson previously said any suggestion that the investment influenced the administration’s chip decisions was “100% false.” The White House has also said Trump’s assets are managed by his children and that there are no conflicts of interest. No evidence cited in the latest reporting establishes that the investment caused U.S. policy changes.
World Liberty Bank Would Bring USD1 Operations In-House
The ownership revelation comes shortly after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Company preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank charter. The proposed institution would not operate like a conventional retail bank. It would not accept ordinary checking or savings deposits and would not offer FDIC-insured consumer accounts. Instead, World Liberty Trust would focus primarily on World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin. The charter would allow the institution to issue and redeem USD1 directly, safeguard reserves and provide related digital-asset custody and settlement services. World Liberty currently relies on BitGo for important parts of USD1’s infrastructure.
USD1 has grown to approximately $4 billion in market capitalization, making reserve management increasingly important to World Liberty’s economics. Stablecoin issuers typically hold cash and short-duration government securities against tokens in circulation. Interest earned on those reserves can generate substantial revenue while holders themselves generally receive no direct share of that yield. The OCC’s decision is only conditional. World Liberty Trust must satisfy capital, compliance, operational and other pre-opening requirements before receiving final authorization to commence business.
The ownership structure nevertheless adds another dimension to an already unusual regulatory situation. World Liberty would become a federally supervised financial institution partly owned through an entity connected to the sitting president’s family, while its largest reported shareholder would be backed by the national security adviser of a foreign government. The Trump-Tahnoon relationship also extends beyond the original equity investment. In 2025, UAE-backed MGX used World Liberty’s USD1 to complete its $2 billion investment in Binance, providing a major early use case for the stablecoin. For World Liberty, obtaining a national trust charter could turn USD1 from a crypto product dependent on outside infrastructure into the centerpiece of its own federally regulated financial institution. For regulators and lawmakers, however, Tahnoon’s reported 49% position ensures that scrutiny will extend beyond stablecoin regulation to foreign ownership, national security and potential conflicts involving one of the most politically connected financial ventures ever to seek a U.S. banking charter.