American crypto business

[zasad@]

‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company
$500 million investment for 49% of World Liberty came months before U.A.E. won access to tightly guarded American AI chips
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/spy-sheikh-secret-stake-trump-crypto-tahnoon-ea4d97e8

"Four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal with the Trump family to purchase a 49% stake in their fledgling cryptocurrency venture for half a billion dollars, according to company documents and people familiar with the matter. The buyers would pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities.

The deal with World Liberty Financial, which hasn’t previously been reported, was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son. At least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with.."
free:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/spy-sheikh-bought-secret-stake-in-trump-company/ar-AA1VpnKP

"What wasn’t publicly known: Tahnoon’s emissaries had signed the deal to purchase 49% of World Liberty that January.

Of the first $250 million installment from the Tahnoon-backed company, called Aryam Investment 1, $187 million was directed to Trump family entities DT Marks DEFI LLC and DT Marks SC LLC, the documents said. In addition to the payout to Witkoff family entities, another $31 million was directed to an entity tied to co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro. The Journal couldn’t determine how the second half of Aryam’s investment, which was due by July 15, 2025, may have been distributed.

The agreement would make Aryam World Liberty’s largest shareholder, and the firm’s only known investor outside of its founders. The deal placed two Aryam executives, who also held top positions at Tahnoon’s G42, on World Liberty’s five-person board, which at the time included Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff—Steve Witkoff’s son, the documents said.

Trump’s real-estate company has courted deals with foreign companies since his election, and the president has accepted gifts from foreign governments, including a $400 million luxury airliner from Qatar. But the World Liberty deal is the only known case of a foreign government official purchasing a major stake in a Trump company after his election."

[yhiaali3]

I expect this is just a small part of the secret deals that Gulf princes make with the United States in general and Trump in particular. I believe there are much larger, undisclosed secret deals.

The royal families in the Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, are secretly making many deals with the United States. While these may appear to be economic deals, they are in reality political deals whose primary goal is to secure US support to solidify the rule of these royal families.

Here in the Arab world, the Gulf states are often criticized for paying billions of dollars to the United States while most Arab populations suffer from extreme poverty. It would be better to spend these billions on their impoverished Arab brothers and sisters instead of giving them to Trump.

[FinneysTrueVision]

This ends up giving credibility to crypto detractors like Elizabeth Warren who said that foreign governments could have influence on American policy by bribing Trump through his many crypto projects. What little support there might have been on the Democratic side for pro-crypto legislation seems to be gone now.

The open corruption also damages how regular people see crypto. You can go on any social media and you will see there is a lot of pessimism and frustration with Trump’s actions. Trump has only sought to benefit himself without thinking about how crypto might be affected negatively.

[zasad@]

Top Democrat Launches Probe Into ‘Spy Sheikh’ Deal With Trump Company
World Liberty said lawmakers are ‘harassing a private American business to score political points’
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/top-democrat-launches-probe-into-spy-sheikh-deal-with-trump-company-ea59ec8e
"The top Democrat on a House committee overseeing U.S.-China competition has launched an investigation into a $500 million investment by an Abu Dhabi royal in a Trump family cryptocurrency company and is urging a U.S. attorney to probe the deal as well.

In a letter to Zach Witkoff, CEO of the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial, California Rep. Ro Khanna sent a list of 16 questions and requested documents related to the company’s agreement with the Abu Dhabi royal, a deal first reported by The Wall Street Journal."
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I love stories like this, they will continue for a very long time.

[zasad@]

Binance—Whose Founder Was Pardoned—Now Holds 87% Of Trump’s Stablecoin
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2026/02/09/trump-stablecoin-usd1-binance-holds-87-percent/
Binance holds about 87% of USD1, the stablecoin issued by a Trump family crypto venture—a greater concentration than any other major stablecoin has at a single exchange—underscoring the depth of the financial relationship between Binance, whose founder Trump pardoned in October, and World Liberty Financial, which already has added an estimated $1 billion to President Donald Trump’s net worth.

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Rumors, gossip. But Trump's presidential term will soon end, and according to US law, no one can serve as president for more than eight years. I expect investigations in a couple of years to be more ambitious than the one involving the FTX exchange.