Trumps' Crypto Firm Struck a Big Deal With UAE Royalty

A lucrative deal struck between the Trump family enterprise and investors tied to the United Arab Emirates just before President Trump's second inauguration is getting some attention. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on it: Four days before the inauguration, Eric Trump signed an agreement for World Liberty Financial to sell a 49% "secret stake" to Aryam Investment 1 for $500 million. World Liberty is a crypto venture co-founded by all three of Trump's sons, and it also has ties to longtime Trump ally Steve Witkoff, notes the Washington Post. Involved on the other side of the deal was Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, an Abu Dhabi royal who has sought greater access from the US to artificial intelligence chips.

• The Journal frames the context like so: "The deal marked something unprecedented in American politics: a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming US president's company."
• But World Liberty spokesman David Wachsman insists all was above-board. "We made the deal in question because we strongly believe that it was what was best for our company as we continue to grow," he said. "The idea that, when raising capital, a privately held American company should be held to some unique standard that no other similar company would be held is both ridiculous and un-American."
• Wachsman said neither President Trump nor Witkoff had any role in the deal. Critics, however, say the overlap between Tahnoon's private investment in World Liberty and his government lobbying on AI raises potential constitutional and ethical red flags.
• The deal calls for $187 million routed up front to Trump family entities and at least $31 million to entities owned by Witkoff.
• Several months after the deal, the US granted the UAE access to advanced AI chips made in the US. The sheik's efforts on that front had been "largely stymied" under the Biden administration over national security concerns, per the Journal.