Why The Trump-UAE Crypto Deal Made No Financial Sense—For The Emiratis
Forbes Daily Briefing
Forbes
4.4 • 18 Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Summary
The sale of 49% of World Liberty Financial to an Emirati tycoon appears to have been an incredible deal for Donald Trump. But what did the UAE get out of it?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing Bonus Story of the Week. |
| 0:05.1 | Today on Forbes, Why the Trump-U-A-E crypto deal made no financial sense for the Emirates. |
| 0:13.3 | Right before Donald Trump's second inauguration, he and his family were spurring a crypto frenzy. |
| 0:19.7 | On January 17th, three days ahead of his swearing-in, he released a meme coin, a hype vehicle |
| 0:26.0 | that eventually added an estimated $1 billion or so to his net worth in 2025. |
| 0:32.5 | Thanks to a Wall Street Journal investigation published over the weekend, we now know that |
| 0:37.0 | just one day earlier, |
| 0:38.7 | one of the family's other crypto ventures, World Liberty Financial, which launched in September |
| 0:43.9 | 2024, penned a deal with Sheikh Tanun bin Zayyad al-Nayy, who heads up multiple United Arab |
| 0:51.3 | Emirates investment funds and serves as the country's national security |
| 0:55.1 | advisor and the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi. His brother is the UAE's president. Forbes first reported |
| 1:03.4 | the likelihood that the Trumps had secretly sold a stake in World Liberty Financial back in June. |
| 1:09.1 | According to the journal's reporting, R.E.M. Investment One, |
| 1:12.9 | a, quote, Tannun-backed company, purchased 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million |
| 1:19.3 | delivered in multiple installments. Before the deal, which was later confirmed by World Liberty, |
| 1:25.9 | the Trump family owned about 75% of World Liberty |
| 1:28.9 | Financial through a company called DT-Marx-Defi LLC, and that company was split 70-30 between |
| 1:35.9 | Trump and his family members, according to Trump's most recent financial disclosure. |
| 1:41.1 | It's likely that Trump's cut of the $500 million sale, before any taxes, would thus have |
| 1:46.5 | been roughly $260 million in all. |
| 1:50.0 | His three sons would have split another $100 million or so, Forbes estimates. |
| 1:55.6 | Here's the problem. |
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