By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-01 21:14:47 | Updated at 2026-09-04 05:15:08
2 days ago
Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) national security advisor, owns the largest stake in the holding company for the Trump family’s planned crypto bank, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Aug. 27.
The Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted conditional approval Aug. 14 for a federally chartered national trust bank to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture co-founded by Trump family members and Alex and Zach Witkoff, the sons of billionaire Trump advisor Steve Witkoff. (RELATED: Witkoff, Trump Family Crypto Firm Granted Conditional Bank Charter From Federal Regulator)
An unprecedented move, it marked the first time a national bank charter was issued to a sitting president’s family business.
Thirteen days later, WSJ reported that an investment vehicle controlled by Sheikh Tahnoun and other co-investors, StringZ Holding RSC, owned the largest stake in the bank’s holding company at 49 percent. The OCC required StringZ Holding, foreign stakeholders and entities affiliated with the Trump family to sign a passive investor agreement, according to WSJ. Under this agreement, shareholders commit not to seek control over the bank or interfere with its management.
Sheikh Tahnoun serves as the UAE’s national security adviser, heads the Emirati state AI firm G42—which the administration has permitted to purchase advanced American chips—and is frequently referred to in the press as the “spy sheikh”. He is also the brother of the UAE’s monarch, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The Trump family’s ties to the UAE, via World Liberty Financial, have raised eyebrows in Washington, D.C., and in the media. Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasted the relationship as “corruption, plain and simple” in February and called for an investigation, along with Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
Sheikh Tahnoon reportedly made a secret $500 million investment in World Liberty Financial days before Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.
Months after the deal was signed, the Trump administration reversed a Biden-era rule restricting advanced chip sales. The UAE and approved companies, including Sheikh Tahnoon’s G42, no longer need a U.S. government license to purchase chips from Nvidia Corp or Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The move also eliminated caps on how many chips can be sold to those foreign entities. (RELATED: Trump Loops Emiratis Into American-Made Chips Supply Chain)
Warren wrote a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick earlier in August demanding he explain why the administration gave the UAE access to the advanced, sensitive technology.
“It is deeply concerning that some of those same UAE entities will now have license-free access to advanced AI chips, despite reported warnings from the Department of Commerce’s own staff that the technology could get diverted to China,” she wrote.
The senator called the timing of the administration’s decision to ease export controls after Sheikh Tahnoon’s investment in World Liberty Financial “alarming.”
The UAE also reportedly exerted influence to secure Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, a Chinese-born Canadian billionaire felon. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, was a major backer of World Liberty Financial following Trump’s election win, WSJ reported.
In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to implement an effective anti-money-laundering program and received a nearly four-month prison sentence. His company also agreed to pay a historic $4.3 billion settlement.
Zhao now lives in the UAE and has touted the monarchy’s embrace of cryptocurrency.
