In January 2026, The Wall Street Journal revealed a striking deal: Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s National Security Advisor, secretly acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial through his Abu Dhabi-backed entity, Aryam Investment 1, just four days before Trump’s inauguration. This $500 million transaction saw half of the funds paid immediately upon closing, with $187 million flowing directly to entities controlled by the Trump family.
The Secret Deal
In January 2025, only four days before Trump’s second presidential inauguration, a confidential agreement was signed that fundamentally reshaped World Liberty Financial’s ownership structure. This $500 million deal transferred nearly half of the Trump-affiliated crypto company to an investment entity controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, the UAE’s National Security Advisor. Eric Trump signed the agreement on behalf of the family. Tahnoon, who is not only the brother of the UAE president but also manages the nation’s largest sovereign wealth fund, played a central role.
Founded in October 2024, World Liberty Financial focuses primarily on stablecoin issuance and DeFi lending. Donald Trump and his three sons are all listed as co-founders.
Transaction Details
The flow of funds in this deal reveals the underlying distribution of interests. Of the $500 million total, half ($250 million) was paid immediately at closing. Of that, $187 million went directly to Trump family-controlled entities, at least $31 million to entities linked to fellow co-founder Steve Witkoff’s family, and another $31 million to entities associated with co-founders Zach Fuhrman and Chase Herro. The remaining $250 million was scheduled for payment by July 15, 2025. Upon completion, the entity backed by Tahnoon became the only external investor known outside the founding team, as well as the company’s largest shareholder.
Geopolitical Connections
This crypto deal is closely intertwined with broader geopolitical agendas. Tahnoon has been driving the UAE’s ambition to become a global hub for artificial intelligence and technology. His AI conglomerate, G42, previously faced restrictions on access to advanced chips during the Biden administration due to its ties with Chinese firms. With Trump’s election, those restrictions began to ease.
In November 2025, the Trump administration approved the sale of computing power equivalent to 35,000 of NVIDIA’s most advanced GB300 processors to G42. According to the agreement, the US would sell up to 500,000 cutting-edge AI chips to the UAE annually, with one-fifth destined for Tahnoon’s personally controlled G42.
Political Controversy and Investigation
The rapid sequence of these deals has drawn scrutiny from Democrats. In September 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Elissa Slotkin called for an investigation into potential conflicts of interest. The probe focused on the roles of Witkoff and Sachs in facilitating chip exports to the UAE while their families profited from the UAE’s investment in World Liberty Financial.
Disclosure documents show that the Witkoff family holds 3.75 billion WLFI tokens, valued at around $800 million at the time. Federal law explicitly prohibits officials from participating in decisions involving matters where they have a financial interest.
WLFI Market Performance and Outlook
According to Gate market data, as of February 2, 2026, World Liberty Financial (WLFI) was trading at $0.1314, up 4.87% in the past 24 hours, with a 24-hour trading volume of $10.15 million. WLFI’s current market cap stands at $3.26 billion, with a circulating supply of 24.66 billion WLFI and a total supply of 100 billion WLFI.
WLFI soared to an all-time high of over $0.460044 on September 1, 2025. However, recent market performance has been lackluster. Despite the major $500 million investment news, the price has dropped about 26% to near $0.12.
Based on market data analysis, WLFI’s average price in 2026 is likely to hover around $0.1314, with expected fluctuations between $0.06701 and $0.1405. Looking at long-term trends, WLFI could reach $0.3201 by 2031, representing a potential return of about 91.00%. These forecasts are based on market data models and do not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile; investors should fully understand the risks and make decisions cautiously.
Stablecoin Expansion and National Strategy
Beyond the equity deal, another company led by Tahnoon, MGX, used World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin to invest $2 billion in Binance. This transaction helped USD1 become one of the fastest-growing stablecoins by market cap, with circulation surpassing $5 billion.
USD1 is a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by short-term US Treasury bills, dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents. World Liberty Financial is currently seeking a national trust bank charter to formalize its USD1 business under federal regulation. These transactions and operations show that World Liberty Financial is more than just a crypto company—it has become a key nexus linking US political power, Middle Eastern capital, and frontier technology.
The boundaries between the crypto world and real-world politics are fading. After the news broke, World Liberty Financial’s token price fell rather than rose, now hovering near $0.1314 with a market cap around $3.26 billion. From Dubai’s luxury hotels to Washington’s corridors of power, from AI chip export controls to the global circulation of stablecoins, cryptocurrency is no longer just a playground for tech enthusiasts. It’s becoming a new piece on the geopolitical chessboard, building unprecedented bridges between national strategy and private interests. UAE investment entities are now the largest external shareholders of World Liberty Financial, while the company’s USD1 stablecoin circulation has surpassed the $5 billion mark. As political power and crypto capital join hands, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg.
