Just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, a crypto deal was quietly signed — and it now looks far more serious than it first appeared.
Recently surfaced documents show that investors linked to an Abu Dhabi royal family agreed to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, a Trump-family crypto venture, for $BTC 500 million. The deal was finalized four days before the inauguration, away from public attention.
Half of the amount was paid upfront, sending around $187 million directly to Trump-linked entities. The agreement was signed by Eric Trump on behalf of the family.
The structure goes deeper.
At least $31 million was allocated to entities connected to Steve Witkoff’s family, a co-founder of the project — just weeks before he was named U.S. envoy to the Middle East.
Behind the investment stood Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, brother of the UAE president and head of a vast trillion-dollar financial empire. At the same time, he has been actively lobbying Washington for access to highly restricted U.S. AI chips.
Seen in this context, the deal feels less like a normal crypto investment and more like a strategic bridge between Gulf capital, U.S. political power, and the global AI race.
There’s no clear proof of a quid pro quo —
but the **timing, players,