United Arab Emirates National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets with President Donald Trump at the White House on March 18, 2025.
By: Donald J. Trump | via Truth Social
A powerful United Arab Emirates official known as the “spy chief” is behind the largest stake in the Trump family’s planned cryptocurrency bank holding company, further deepening its financial ties to President Donald Trump’s business empire, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The paper said Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE national security advisor and brother of the president, and his co-investors are behind Strings Holding RSC, which owns 49% of the bank’s holding company, WLTC Holdings. Another 38% is owned by companies with ties to Trump’s family.
Tahnoun and other investors previously invested $500 million in Trump-backed World Liberty Financial, taking a 49% stake in the cryptocurrency company in January 2025, at the start of Trump’s second term as president. The deal directed $263 million to Trump family entities, according to President Trump’s 2025 annual financial disclosure.
The investment is one of several foreign deals that have benefited Trump’s business since he returned to office. CNBC previously reported that Trump’s businesses generated at least $59.5 million in foreign licensing revenue in the first year of his second term.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this month granted World Liberty preliminary conditional approval to establish a federally chartered national trust bank. The bank will issue, redeem and secure USD1, World Liberty’s dollar-backed stablecoin, but will need to meet additional conditions before it can open.
The deal has come under scrutiny because Tahnoun is a foreign government official and the Trump administration is negotiating with the UAE over access to advanced U.S. artificial intelligence chips.
The administration approved chip sales to G42, the UAE’s state-run AI company controlled by Tahnoun, and last month eased limits on the number of chip purchases.
World Liberty spokesman David Waxman called the company “a private U.S. financial technology company and not a political entity” and said the trust company has independent governance. “No one at World Liberty works for the U.S. government and there are no conflicts of interest,” he said, adding that the company does not seek or receive special treatment. He did not discuss the reported ownership structure.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment, but has previously denied there is a conflict of interest, saying Trump is “acting only in the best interests of the American people.”
