Wall Street Journal reports Sheikh Tahnoon and co-investors hold 49% stake in WLTC Holdings for World Liberty Financial bank

WSJ Aug. 27 reporting ties Abu Dhabi national security adviser's 49% interest in WLTC Holdings via StringZ Holding RSC to the Trump-linked trust bank advancing under OCC conditions for USD1.

USD1

2d ago

Fact Check

The WSJ report states directly that Sheikh Tahnon bin Zayed Al Nahyan is a backer and shareholder of the U.S. bank World Liberty Financial plans to launch, with a 49% holding in the bank's holding company. CNBC independently reports a parallel 49%, $500 million Tahnon-backed stake in World Liberty Financial itself. Both sources align on the actor, the venture, and the ownership percentage. The one qualification: WSJ attributes the 49% to Tahnoon together with co-investors, so the headline framing of him personally holding 49% overstates his individual share, and the stake sits in the bank's holding company rather than the chartered bank. Reporting rests on a single primary outlet's sourcing, which is why probability is not higher.

Summary

Wall Street Journal reporting published Aug. 27 states that Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser, and his co-investors hold a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings, the holding company behind World Liberty Financial’s planned banking venture, through StringZ Holding RSC. A Trump family-affiliated entity holds about 38%, making the Abu Dhabi investor and his co-investors the largest shareholders. World Liberty Financial, the Trump family-linked decentralized finance project, has been working since early 2025 to secure a federal charter for its stablecoin operations. The ownership disclosure fills in the capital structure behind World Liberty’s push into federally chartered banking. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval this month for World Liberty to establish a national trust bank that would issue, redeem and safeguard its USD1 stablecoin. That approval remains conditional, and the bank must still meet OCC conditions and pass a final examination before it can begin operations. Earlier, Sheikh Tahnoon and his co-investors put $500 million into World Liberty Financial in January 2025 for a 49% stake in the company. The new holding-company stake indicates the same investors are anchoring the banking arm as well as the broader crypto business. The Journal report does not detail the identities of the co-investors alongside Tahnoon or how control is divided between the 49% and 38% blocks. Because the ownership figures come from the Journal’s reporting rather than a public filing, the full structure may not be confirmed until World Liberty or regulators publish formal documents.

Terms & Concepts

National trust bank: A federally chartered institution that can custody client assets and support issuance and settlement functions but generally cannot take deposits or make conventional loans.
USD1: World Liberty Financial's dollar-pegged stablecoin, with roughly $4 billion in circulation and reserves said to be held in U.S. Treasurys and cash equivalents.
Preliminary conditional approval: An OCC step that allows a proposed national bank to advance toward opening only if it meets further conditions before final authorization and operations.