Trump's Crypto Empire Entangled with UAE National Security Adviser

U.S. President Donald Trump's family has been involved in cryptocurrency dealings, but he previously bashed Facebook's plans to create a digital currency, calling it 'not money' with 'highly volatile and based on thin air' value.

This changed as the 2024 election approached, with crypto companies funneling more than $119 million into a non-partisan super PAC to elect pro-crypto candidates. Trump vowed to make the United States the 'crypto capital of the planet'. In March 2025, he created the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order, treating Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset on par with gold.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave conditional approval to World Liberty Financial, backed by Trump's family and close allies, to set up a federally chartered U.S. trust bank to issue, redeem, and safeguard a dollar-backed stablecoin called USD1. The bank is owned in part by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser.

Financial disclosures filed in June show Trump earned more than $1.4 billion from his crypto ventures, with over $500 million coming from World Liberty Financial and another $635 million from sales of his $TRUMP meme coin.