BREAKINGVIEWS-UAE takes calculated risk on Trump crypto blowback

By Afiq Fitri Alias

LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The United Arab Emirates has taken its close ties with Washington to the next level. The Gulf state was already in Donald Trump’s good books – after all, the U.S. president’s visit there last year coincided with a UAE pledge to invest $1.4 trillion over 10 years in the United States. At the same time, Trump eased restrictions on exports of advanced U.S. artificial intelligence chips to the region. Now it’s clear that the links are even tighter. Just before the president’s inauguration, entities linked to a senior Abu Dhabi royal paid $500 million for a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s own stablecoin venture, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing company documents and people familiar with the matter. The question is whether this investment raises the risk of blowback from a future U.S. administration that might be inclined to scrutinise Trump-linked networks of influence.

The news is simultaneously unsurprising and jaw-dropping. It’s no secret the Trump family has made large sums from its patriarch’s presidency already – Reuters last year estimated that the Trump Organization had earned $802 million from crypto ventures in the first half of 2025 alone. The UAE also used its MGX investment vehicle to pay for some of its $2 billion stake in cryptocurrency exchange Binance using stablecoins issued by World Liberty Financial. But the direct investment in the Trump family’s venture, struck with entities controlled by the UAE president’s brother Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, means a foreign power bought a stake in a vehicle part-controlled by the president’s sons just before the UAE successfully pushed for access to roughly 500,000 advanced Nvidia NVDA.O AI chips a year – about a fifth of which were earmarked for state-backed G42.

A spokesperson for WLF said President Trump had “no involvement whatsoever” in the deal and has “had no involvement in World Liberty Financial since taking office”. He added that “any claim that this deal had anything to do with the Administration’s actions on chips is 100% false”. Not all U.S. observers agree. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, called the arrangement “corruption, plain and simple,” arguing it put U.S. national security at risk.

AI is one of the UAE’s key growth drivers, so it’s hardly surprising Abu Dhabi was motivated to maximise its scope to secure the all-important Nvidia chips. The risk, however, is that Congress or a future occupant of the White House takes a dim view of the UAE’s courting of Trump, turning its investment in the president’s family firm into a diplomatic liability.

The emirate’s implicit wager is that even a different U.S. administration will realise the need to maintain the UAE as a close ally. As of 2024 the U.S. enjoyed a $19.5 billion, tech-export-fuelled trade surplus with the country – its third largest globally. This supports over 160,000 U.S. jobs, according to the U.S.-UAE Business Council. The $1.2 trillion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) channels up to 60% of its assets into North America, and MGX is a key investor in U.S. data centres. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force’s 380th Air Expeditionary Wing is based 30 kilometres south of Abu Dhabi, and Dubai’s Jebel Ali is the U.S. Navy’s most visited port outside of North America.

For the UAE, the new investment is still a risk. But given the potential for meaningful blowback from future U.S. presidents seems slim relative to the benefits of being close to the current incumbent, it’s a calculated one.

CONTEXT NEWS

Abu Dhabi’s Deputy Ruler and UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan struck a $500 million deal to acquire nearly half of the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, the Wall Street Journal reported on January 31, citing company documents and people familiar with the matter.

Of the first $250 million payment from the Tahnoon-backed company, called Aryam Investment 1, $187 million flowed to Trump family linked entities, the WSJ reported. The agreement coincided with the UAE gaining long sought access to advanced U.S. AI chips in May 2025.

“This is corruption, plain and simple,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, said. She added that those involved in the deal should testify in front of Congress and called on the White House to cancel the deal to sell AI chips to the UAE.

“Neither President Trump nor Steve Witkoff had any involvement whatsoever in this transaction and have had no involvement in World Liberty Financial since taking office,” a spokesman for World Liberty Financial told Breakingviews in an emailed statement.

“Any claim that this deal had anything to do with the Administration’s actions on chips is 100% false. The leftwing media is dishonestly pushing baseless innuendo in an effort to deceive the public and smear our company. As a private business, we operate by the same rules and regulations as any other company in our space, do not want or receive any special treatment, and reject the fact-free suggestions to the contrary.”

“We made the deal in question because we strongly believe that it was what was best for our company as we continue to grow. 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.”

“We are proud to report that since this investment took place, our company has grown materially. Based on current operations, adoption, and transaction volume, World Liberty Financial today would be valued well in excess of the original investment level and would be ranked among the fastest-growing fintech platforms globally.”