An investment vehicle linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser, holds a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings, the parent company created to run World Liberty Financial’s new federally chartered bank, according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump family-affiliated entities hold 38% of the same holding company, with the remainder split among other stakeholders.
- The stake sits inside WLTC Holdings LLC, parent of World Liberty Trust Company, N.A., which won conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on August 14, 2026.
- The vehicle named in the deal, StringZ Holding RSC, is also listed as a passivity-commitment entity in the OCC’s own approval order.
- The arrangement follows Tahnoon’s earlier $500 million purchase of a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial itself, struck days before Trump’s second inauguration.
A 49% Stake Inside the Bank’s Ownership Structure
World Liberty Trust Company is meant to issue, redeem and hold reserves for USD1, World Liberty’s dollar-pegged stablecoin. Company co-founder Zach Witkoff described the charter as bringing “USD1 issuance, custody, and reserve management together under OCC supervision, examined on the same standards that have governed banks for generations.”
The stake attributed to Tahnoon’s vehicle sits one level up, in the holding company that owns the bank rather than in the bank itself.
What the OCC’s Own Filing Says
The regulator’s Corporate Decision #1385, dated August 2026, confirms that World Liberty Trust Company is “a wholly owned subsidiary of WLTC Holdings LLC.” It lists passivity commitments from three entities: DT Marks SC LLC, a Trump family-controlled entity; StringZ Holdings RSC (DE) LLC; and AMGUS LLC, co-founded by World Liberty co-founder Zachary Folkman.
The same order states that “investors in World Liberty Financial, Inc., would not have an investment in, or control over, the Bank,” a line meant to wall off the bank from World Liberty’s existing outside shareholders. The reported ownership of WLTC Holdings sits alongside that language rather than resolving it, since StringZ appears in both the bank’s holding structure and, by the Journal’s earlier reporting, in World Liberty Financial’s own cap table.
Congress Was Already Watching
Representative Ro Khanna opened a congressional inquiry into Tahnoon’s original $500 million investment in World Liberty Financial, writing that the arrangement “may even represent a violation of multiple laws and the United States Constitution.” Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim separately sought a formal national-security review of the UAE’s stake.
A World Liberty spokesperson has said no one at the company works for the U.S. government and that there is no conflict of interest. The White House has said World Liberty “only acts in the best interest of the American public.” The scrutiny comes as Eric Trump new Trump coin discussions have also drawn attention to the Trump family’s expanding crypto activities.
Abu Dhabi’s Earlier World Liberty Connection
Abu Dhabi capital has already passed through World Liberty’s stablecoin once. In 2025, the state-linked investment vehicle MGX used USD1 to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance, the first large-scale commercial use of the token. The broader Trump crypto ecosystem has also seen activity such as a Trump team USDC withdrawal from TRUMP liquidity pools.
That transaction ran through World Liberty’s product without giving MGX an ownership stake in the company. The bank-holding-company stake now reported is a different kind of exposure: direct equity in the entity that will control a federally regulated bank, not just a customer relationship with its stablecoin.
What Happens Next
World Liberty Trust Company still needs to clear additional OCC requirements, including a $20 million capital threshold, before it can begin operating. Until then, the bank exists on paper, and the ownership structure sitting above it, with a UAE national security official’s vehicle holding a larger share than the Trump family’s own entities, is what regulators and lawmakers will be weighing as the Trump family crypto windfall continues to draw scrutiny.
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