Trump crypto firm backs venture offering AI from restricted Chinese companies

The Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, is at the center of a growing controversy that connects Abu Dhabi money, advanced AI chips, and companies with documented ties to restricted Chinese technology firms.

At the heart of the matter is a $500 million investment that gave a UAE-linked entity a 49% stake in WLFI. That deal closed on January 16, 2025, just days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

The money trail from Abu Dhabi to the Trump family

The investment is linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family and the chair of G42, a prominent UAE-based artificial intelligence company. Of the $500 million, roughly $187 million was wired directly to Trump family entities upfront.

WLFI was co-founded by Donald Trump, with sons Eric and Donald Jr. serving as co-founders. The family is entitled to approximately 75% of proceeds from token sales.

Shortly after this investment landed, the US government approved the UAE for access to advanced AI chips, including Nvidia’s H200 processors. These approvals effectively overrode restrictions that had been put in place during the Biden administration specifically because of concerns about technology finding its way to China.

The G42 problem

G42, the AI firm Sheikh Tahnoon chairs, has documented connections to Chinese technology companies. US intelligence agencies had previously scrutinized G42 over potential military connections to Chinese entities. The concern centers on whether advanced American AI technology, once it reaches the UAE through newly relaxed export controls, could be transferred to Chinese interests through exactly these kinds of corporate relationships.

Nobody is alleging that WLFI itself is shipping GPUs to Beijing. The worry is about the web of incentives created when a sitting president’s family business is financially intertwined with foreign entities that have their own complex relationships with restricted Chinese companies.

WLFI’s expanding crypto footprint

WLFI has issued governance tokens, also called WLFI, and launched a stablecoin dubbed USD1. Related public companies have acquired significant quantities of WLFI tokens.

With the Trump family entitled to three-quarters of token sale proceeds, WLFI’s incentive structure is heavily tilted toward its founders rather than its community.

What Washington is watching

Members of Congress from both parties have begun asking questions about whether the UAE investment constitutes a conflict of interest given the subsequent policy changes on chip exports.

If lawmakers conclude that WLFI’s foreign investment relationships create genuine national security vulnerabilities, broad restrictions on foreign sovereign investment in US crypto ventures, or tighter disclosure requirements for token issuers with government connections, are both plausible outcomes.

The $500 million capital infusion gives the project significant runway and operational muscle. But the political risk premium on anything this close to the intersection of presidential power and foreign money is enormous, and it could reprice overnight depending on what investigators find or what Congress decides to do about it.

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