Report Ties Abu Dhabi Royal to Trump Family’s New Crypto Bank Venture
A trust charter application filed with a federal banking regulator does not usually reveal much about who stands behind it. Names get folded into holding companies, holding companies get folded into other holding companies, and the public record often stops well short of naming an actual person. That is roughly what happened when the entity behind World Liberty Financial’s proposed bank sought approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and it is why the identity of one of its largest backers only became public through separate reporting rather than the regulatory filing itself.
According to Wall Street Journal reporting citing people familiar with the matter, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser, brother of the country’s president, and chairman of the AI company G42, is behind a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings, the parent entity of the newly approved World Liberty Trust Company. That stake is held through an investment vehicle called StringZ Holding RSC. A Trump family-affiliated entity holds a separate 38% stake in the same holding company. It is worth being precise about what is and is not confirmed here: the OCC’s own published preliminary decision identifies StringZ as an investor in the venture but does not name Tahnoon personally or disclose the size of the stake, meaning the attribution to him specifically rests on the Journal’s sourcing rather than the public regulatory record.
This would not be the first time Tahnoon’s name has surfaced in connection with World Liberty Financial. One of his investment vehicles previously backed a reported $500 million purchase of a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial itself, a deal that closed in early 2025, days before President Trump’s inauguration. A separate, later commitment reportedly involved a $2 billion deposit from a Tahnoon-linked firm into the venture. Multiple outlets have since described him as the platform’s largest external shareholder. The new trust bank entity, if it is confirmed to follow the same ownership pattern, would extend that relationship into a federally chartered banking structure rather than a purely private crypto investment.
The bank itself, World Liberty Trust Company, received preliminary conditional approval from the OCC on August 14. Preliminary approval is not the same as a license to operate. The company still needs to satisfy pre-opening requirements and secure final authorization before it can function as a bank. If it clears those remaining steps, the stated purpose is to bring issuance, redemption, and custody of World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin under a single, federally supervised banking structure, rather than the more fragmented arrangement most stablecoin issuers currently operate under.
The Trump Organization did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment before publication, and neither World Liberty Financial nor Tahnoon’s office has issued a public statement confirming or denying the specific ownership figures reported. Democratic senators have separately called for hearings on the arrangement, citing concerns about foreign financial influence over a venture with direct family ties to a sitting president. Given the sensitivity of a claim involving a named foreign royal official, readers should treat the specific ownership percentage as sourced reporting rather than confirmed public record until the OCC or the parties themselves disclose it directly.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Details regarding specific ownership stakes are based on reporting attributed to sources familiar with the matter and have not been independently confirmed through public regulatory filings. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.
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