Abu Dhabi Royal Backs 49% Stake in Trump-Linked Crypto Bank Venture

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan's investment group is reportedly behind StringZ Holding RSC, which owns 49% of WLTC Holdings—the holding company behind World Liberty Financial's proposed US trust bank. According to the Wall Street Journal, an entity affiliated with US President Donald Trump's family holds another 38% of WLTC Holdings. If the venture receives final regulatory approval, the federally supervised bank would handle the issuance, redemption, and custody of World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin. Tahnoon, the UAE's national security adviser and chairman of AI firm G42, previously backed a separate $500 million purchase of 49% of World Liberty Financial, a transaction that later drew calls from Democratic senators for hearings into whether it influenced US policy toward the UAE.

In related industry news, asset manager Grayscale has argued that Zcash (ZEC) could challenge Bitcoin's (BTC) network effects as financial privacy becomes increasingly important in the age of artificial intelligence. Grayscale's head of research, Zach Pandl, noted that Zcash benefits from being a later entrant in the market, allowing it to combine Bitcoin-like monetary properties with optional transaction privacy—a feature that could differentiate it as AI-driven surveillance of financial activity grows. Meanwhile, the UK government moved to expand the Bank of England's mandate to cover stablecoins and payments innovation, signaling a broader regulatory shift toward integrating digital assets into traditional financial infrastructure. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Company preliminary conditional approval on Aug. 14, though the bank cannot begin operating until it satisfies all pre-opening requirements.