A government official and top royal from the United Arab Emirates purchased a $500 million stake in the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture last year, months before the Trump administration greenlit the sale of advanced AI chips to the UAE, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan — also known as the "spy sheikh" — is the Gulf nation's national security adviser and manager of its largest wealth fund. Aryam Investment, a Tahnoon-backed company, took a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, according to the Journal. The deal would make Aryam the largest shareholder of World Liberty, and the company's only known investor besides the founders, the Journal reported.
World Liberty is behind the stablecoin USD1, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by short-term U.S. government treasuries, U.S. dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents.
The company counts President Donald Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff as co-founders emeritus, and is run by members of the Trump and Witkoff families.
The deal, according to the Journal, was signed by Eric Trump in the days before his father's second inauguration as president. It came as Tahnoon was seeking access to advanced artificial intelligence chips from the U.S., which the Biden administration had blocked over concerns that the chips would end up in China.
According to the Journal, the agreement saw roughly $187 million flow to Trump family entities and $31 million to Witkoff family entities.