UAE “Spy Sheikh” Behind Trump Crypto Bank: 49% Ownership, $500M and Questions MAGA Can’t Avoid

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan and co-investors are behind an entity that owns 49% of the holding company created for the planned Trump crypto World Liberty Financial’s US banking venture, according to people familiar with the matter, as cited by The Wall Street Journal.

The stake makes Tahnoon-linked investors the largest shareholders in the holding company behind a bank being prepared by the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture.

The reported ownership arrangement follows a $500M investment in World Liberty Financial that Tahnoon backed last year in exchange for a 49% stake in the company, the Journal previously reported. The new venture expands the business relationship between the Trump-backed crypto company and a foreign government official.

A new Trump family banking venture is being backed by an Abu Dhabi sheikh, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal. The company, World Liberty Financial, denies any conflict of interest. @AaronKatersky reports. pic.twitter.com/b1kLzsjoSC

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency earlier this month granted preliminary conditional approval for World Liberty Financial to launch a federally chartered national trust bank, according to the Journal’s Aug. 27 report. The proposed bank would issue, redeem and safeguard USD1, the dollar-backed stablecoin World Liberty launched last year.

The preliminary approval places the proposed bank at the center of World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin business. It also focuses on the ownership of the holding company created for the venture, in which Tahnoon and his co-investors are reported to hold the largest stake.

The “spy sheikh” is now a major backer of the Trump family’s new crypto bank.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, UAE national security adviser and brother of the country’s president, sits behind a 49% stake in the holding company for World Liberty’s planned U.S. bank. A Trump-family… pic.twitter.com/wV4laIAK6f

The 49% holding-company stake follows the earlier 49% stake in World Liberty Financial itself. The Journal reported that Tahnoon-linked investors are behind the entity holding the largest stake in the holding company for the banking venture.

Tahnoon is the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and the brother of the country’s president. The Journal reported that he oversees an empire funded by his personal fortune and state money worth more than $1.3 trillion.

The report identifies the size of the stake and the investors behind it, but it does not detail the banking venture’s board composition, governance rights, or any veto arrangements associated with the ownership position. Those details would be important to assessing how the holding-company ownership is reflected in the venture’s operations.

The reporting establishes a significant financial relationship between World Liberty Financial and investors linked to a senior UAE official. It does not establish that Tahnoon personally directs the planned bank’s day-to-day management or sets its U.S. regulatory strategy.

Tahnoon has sometimes been referred to in coverage as the spy Sheikh. The Journal’s reporting on this banking venture identifies his role as the UAE’s national security adviser and describes the ownership stake, but does not connect the nickname to operational control of World Liberty Financial’s planned bank.

USD1 is World Liberty Financial’s dollar-backed stablecoin, launched last year. Under the OCC’s preliminary conditional approval, the federally chartered national trust bank would issue, redeem, and safeguard the token.

The report describes the proposed Trump crypto bank’s role in USD1 but does not provide further detail about the venture’s governance structure or how the holding company’s ownership would relate to specific banking functions. The preliminary approval is therefore a key development for the planned bank, while important operational details remain outside the reporting provided.

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