New reviews says Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, or traders tied to him, agreed in January 2025 to take a position $500 million into Trump-linked World Liberty Monetary for a few 49% stake.
WLFI, the governance token of World Liberty Monetary, has presently decoupled from Bitcoin value, up round 8% at this time amid a flat market nonetheless trying to get well from the weekend dip.
Market Cap $3.53B
24h Quantity $142.37M
All-Time Excessive $0.60
In accordance with The Wall Avenue Journal, the association has turn out to be public solely now as scrutiny grows over how stablecoin issuers can sit on the intersection of cross-border capital, funds rails and U.S. coverage leverage.
The reporting additionally alleges $187 million of the funding flowed to Trump household entities, a element that might sharpen conflict-of-interest questions as World Liberty expands USD1, its dollar-pegged token, into institutional settlement use circumstances.
The stake measurement issues for governance as a lot as economics.
At 49%, an investor can strategy “blocking” leverage over main company actions relying on voting thresholds and board illustration, even with out majority possession.
Out there info has not pinned down whether or not the fairness sits in World Liberty Monetary immediately or by a holding construction.
| Merchandise | Determine | The way it’s derived | Supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Implied fairness worth | ~$1.02B | $500M for 49% implies ~$500M / 0.49 | Deal math from reported phrases |
| Implied pre-money (if handled as new fairness) | ~$520M | ~$1.02B post-money minus $500M new capital | Deal math from reported phrases |
| USD1 market cap | ~$5.014B | Tracked stablecoin provide worth | DeFi Llama |
| Complete stablecoin market cap | ~$311B | Combination circulating stablecoins | DeFi Llama |
Investigative reporter for the Journal, Rebecca Ballhaus, said,
4 days earlier than Trump’s inauguration, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal w/the Trump household to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty Monetary for $500M, based on paperwork & folks acquainted.
…
The client paid half up entrance, steering $187M to Trump household entities and $31M to Witkoff entities.
…
The funding was backed by the UAE nationwide safety adviser, Tahnoon bin Zayed. The deal put two executives at his firm, G42, on the board of WLF, alongside Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff.
Utilizing DeFi Llama’s tracker, USD1’s roughly $5.014 billion market cap locations it round 1.6% of the general stablecoin market.
That’s massive sufficient to matter within the coverage debate that now treats stablecoins as a channel for greenback liquidity somewhat than a distinct segment crypto instrument.
World Liberty launched USD1 on Sept. 1 25, 2025, and by Christmas Day, it had crossed $3 billion in market capitalization, implying {that a} sizable portion of its present provide was added within the weeks since.
That tempo can amplify each adoption and redemption threat if distribution turns into concentrated in a small set of counterparties.
Stablecoin development meets coverage, reserves and settlement rails
The forward-looking challenge for markets and regulators is that stablecoin scale more and more hyperlinks to U.S. funding markets and overseas coverage incentives.
A November Federal Reserve speech tied stablecoin development to Treasury demand and potential transmission results throughout the monetary system, inserting reserve composition and redemption mechanics nearer to core macro questions than to the same old crypto volatility cycle.
Individually, Citi has revealed a 2030 framework that sketches stablecoin issuance reaching $1.9 trillion in a base case and $4.0 trillion in a higher-adoption case.
These numbers, if approached, would pull stablecoin governance into the identical class as different massive patrons of short-dated sovereign debt.
Barron’s has additionally reported Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussing a situation the place stablecoins develop towards about $3 trillion by the top of the last decade.
That has additional targeted consideration on how issuer compliance and reserve guidelines form demand for payments.
These macro stakes now collide with a slender set of details about USD1’s distribution and the identification of potential strategic backers.
U.S. lawmakers have highlighted World Liberty-related information requests tied to a deal by which UAE-backed MGX deliberate to make use of USD1 because the settlement asset for a $2 billion funding in Binance.
If replicated, that association would give a single issuer a job in sovereign-linked circulate that banks traditionally managed by correspondent networks.
For USD1, the near-term watch is whether or not extra state-adjacent entities standardize on the token for settlement and treasury operations, or whether or not compliance considerations push establishments towards issuers with longer working histories and clearer supervisory touchpoints.
The regulatory perimeter can also be shifting.
The GENIUS Act, enacted in July 2025, establishes a federal framework that facilities reserve, compliance, and operational expectations in stablecoin competitors.
As stablecoin guidelines harden, market share might more and more observe which issuers can meet bank-grade controls with out dropping the pace and international attain that drove adoption within the first place.
That tradeoff turns into extra acute for tokens utilized in institutional settlement somewhat than retail buying and selling.
UAE capital, AI compute and political scrutiny
The UAE angle provides a second, non-crypto variable: superior AI compute.
WSJ reporting has tied the funding narrative to discussions involving entry to massive volumes of AI chips.
A preliminary framework for the UAE to import as much as 500,000 Nvidia AI chips per 12 months was additionally authorised final 12 months
Even with out proof of quid professional quo, the sequencing issues as a result of it maps onto a sample by which capital commitments, fee infrastructure and strategic know-how entry get negotiated as a bundle throughout jurisdictions.
For USD1, the measurable path forward is easy even when the politics usually are not.
If whole stablecoins develop and USD1 merely holds its present low-single-digit share, its provide would climb into the excessive single-digit billions in a broader-market growth.
If distribution through massive venues and state-linked flows deepens, USD1’s share may rise, which might additionally elevate the price of any confidence occasion as a result of redemptions would transmit by fewer, bigger channels.
Conversely, if counterparties restrict publicity throughout investigations or if banks and fee corporations tighten onboarding, provide can contract rapidly, with market cap appearing as a near-real-time referendum on entry to on- and off-ramps.
In accordance with The Wall Avenue Journal, the Tahnoon-linked stake and the alleged $187 million circulate to Trump entities have now positioned World Liberty’s financing and USD1’s development underneath a degree of scrutiny that sometimes arrives solely after a stablecoin turns into a routine settlement leg for big, politically uncovered transactions.
Primarily based on the Journal’s report, we’re left with a number of extremely salient questions;
- Did a overseas royal or state-adjacent community successfully purchase affect with Trump (or his household) by a Trump-linked stablecoin firm?
- Was there any quid professional quo, express or implicit, linking the UAE-backed funding to U.S. coverage selections (crypto guidelines, sanctions, protection, diplomacy)?
- What precisely was the $187 million paid to Trump household entities for, and was it structured to hide a battle of curiosity?
- Who’re the last word helpful house owners behind the ~49% stake, and does it grant blocking or veto energy over main selections?
- Are stablecoin/finance talks being bundled with AI chip entry, and did U.S. chip-export selections align with the timing of the capital commitments?
