Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser, and his co-investors reportedly hold the largest stake in the holding company behind World Liberty Financial’s proposed US trust bank, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Key facts:

• Sheikh Tahnoon’s group holds a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings, the company behind World Liberty Financial’s planned US trust bank.
• A Trump family-affiliated entity holds another 38% of WLTC Holdings.
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave World Liberty Trust Company preliminary conditional approval on August 14, 2026.
• The bank would handle the issuance, redemption, and custody of the USD1 stablecoin, currently a $4 billion market cap coin.
• Democratic lawmakers have called for hearings over potential conflicts of interest in the deal.

Ownership Structure

The sheikh’s group operates through an entity called StringZ Holding RSC, which owns 49% of WLTC Holdings, the holding company for the planned trust bank. A Trump family-affiliated entity holds another 38%. Crypto news account Wu Blockchain posted the ownership details on X:

Abu Dhabi Sheikh Tahnoon and Co-Investors Hold 49% Stake in World Liberty’s New Bank Holding Company Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser, and co-investors hold a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings, the holding company for World Liberty Financial’s… pic.twitter.com/jZWVPbucVi

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain), August 27, 2026 (X post)

The planned bank is tied to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture connected to President Donald Trump’s family that launched publicly in September 2024, ahead of the US presidential election. Once operational, it would bring the issuance, redemption, and custody of the USD1 stablecoin under a federally supervised structure. USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin introduced in March 2025, currently has a market capitalization of around $4 billion, making it the fourth-largest stablecoin behind Tether and USDC. Stablecoin issuance in the US is now shaped by the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law signed in July 2025, which requires payment stablecoins to be issued only by regulated entities and to hold reserves in permitted assets such as cash and short-term Treasury securities.

OCC Grants Preliminary Approval

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the US Treasury bureau that regulates national banks, granted World Liberty Trust Company preliminary conditional approval on August 14, 2026. Preliminary conditional approval is the OCC’s standard interim step for organizing banks, and the regulator has previously chartered crypto-linked trust banks, including Anchorage Digital, which received a national trust charter in 2021. National trust charters typically limit institutions to fiduciary, custody, and related activities rather than full commercial banking. The OCC’s published decision confirms that StringZ is an investor in the venture but does not name Sheikh Tahnoon or disclose the size of the stake. As part of the charter process, the OCC conducts background investigations of organizing groups and principal shareholders. The bank cannot begin operating until it meets all of the OCC’s pre-opening requirements and receives final approval.

Sheikh Tahnoon also serves as chairman of the AI company G42. The United States authorized exports of advanced AI chips to G42 in November 2025, following a broader US-UAE AI cooperation agreement. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tahnoon’s investment vehicle secretly acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million, just days before Trump’s inauguration.

Congressional Scrutiny

Democratic senators have urged Republican leadership to hold hearings on the transaction and on whether it shaped US policy toward the UAE. In February 2026, Representative Ro Khanna launched an investigation into UAE royal family money flowing to World Liberty Financial.

The White House has pushed back on conflict-of-interest concerns. Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said there were “no conflicts of interest” and that “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public.”

The OCC’s conditional approval means the trust bank still faces several requirements before it can open its doors. The deal remains under scrutiny from both congressional Democrats and the press as the crypto banking venture moves through the federal approval process.