Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi and co-investors hold the largest stake in the holding company behind a new US bank.
The Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture is preparing to launch that bank. The stake stands at 49%, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
Tahnoon serves as the UAE’s national security adviser and is the brother to the country’s president.
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently granted preliminary approval for World Liberty Financial to launch a national trust bank.
The bank will issue, redeem and safeguard USD1, its dollar-backed stablecoin. USD1 currently has a market value of US$4 billion.
Tahnoon and co-investors previously made an undisclosed $500 million investment in World Liberty in January 2025, WSJ reported.
The deal was signed four days before Trump’s inauguration and steered $263 million to Trump family entities.
Democrats and legal experts called the arrangement unprecedented for a foreign government official to hold a major stake in an incoming US president’s company.
Kathleen Clark, a law professor and former Washington, D.C. ethics lawyer, told WSJ the timing is significant. She noted the bank’s launch coincides with the administration’s negotiations over UAE access to US AI chips.
“How many red flags do we need?” she said.
The holding company, WLTC Holdings, shares World Liberty’s shareholder structure. Tahnoon’s stake, however, runs through a separate entity, StringZ Holding RSC.
An entity affiliated with the Trump family holds 38%.
The OCC required StringZ and two other shareholders to sign passivity agreements, confirming they would not seek to influence the bank’s management.
WSJ says this is an unusual condition the OCC has used only once before since Trump returned to office.
Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed the OCC on Tahnoon’s role at a February hearing.
She later argued that any financial connection between Tahnoon and a bank charter application should be disqualifying. This is especially true, she said, for one owned by the President.
A White House spokeswoman denied any conflicts of interest. She said Trump “only acts in the best interest of the American public.”
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News UAE based on an image by Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan via his website.
