Abu Dhabi Sheikh Acquires Major Stake in Trump Family's Crypto Bank

An investment group tied to Abu Dhabi’s influential Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan is taking a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings, the company that houses World Liberty Financial’s planned US crypto bank. A party linked to the Trump family holds around 38%, according to The Wall Street Journal. The bank has received preliminary approval from US regulator the OCC, but is not yet allowed to start operating.

Abu Dhabi investors take 49% stake

According to The Wall Street Journal, the investment is being made through StringZ Holding RSC. Behind it are Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan and co-investors. Together they control 49% of WLTC Holdings.

Tahnoon is not only a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family but also national security adviser to the United Arab Emirates. That gives a highly influential foreign investment group a major economic interest in the holding behind the proposed US bank.

The involvement is not entirely unexpected. According to the reporting, Tahnoon and his co-investors already put $500 million into World Liberty Financial in January 2025. That investment also produced a 49% stake.

An entity linked to the family of current US president Donald Trump owns about 38% of the new bank holding, the newspaper says.

World Liberty wants to launch its own trust bank

World Liberty Financial is meanwhile taking concrete steps to expand its activities within the US financial system. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, better known as the OCC, is granting preliminary conditional approval this month for the creation of a national trust bank.

The bank is expected to handle, among other things, USD1, World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin. The plan is for the bank to be able to issue and redeem USD1 and also to take responsibility for custody of the stablecoin.

Preliminary approval does not mean the doors can open immediately, however. World Liberty must first meet additional conditions set by the OCC. That will be followed by a final assessment before the bank can actually become operational.

Foreign capital takes prominent position

The structure gives the Abu Dhabi investors the largest single position in WLTC Holdings. That is striking both because of the size of the stake and the political connections surrounding the project.

World Liberty Financial is closely tied to the Trump family, while Tahnoon holds an important position within the UAE government. At the same time, the bank plan sits in the middle of a regulated approval process under the administration of President Donald Trump.

For World Liberty, owning a US trust bank could potentially be a significant expansion. The company would be able to manage more of the infrastructure behind USD1 itself. Whether that actually happens now depends on meeting the OCC’s remaining requirements.