type: timeline_event Abu Dhabi's MGX, an artificial intelligence-focused investment vehicle backed by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, committed approximately $2 billion to invest in World Liberty Financial (WLF), the cryptocurrency platform controlled by the Trump family. The deal, reported by the Financial Times and subsequently confirmed by multiple outlets in May 2025 in connection with a separate Binance partnership, represented one of the largest single foreign investments in a Trump family business venture. Under the arrangement, MGX would invest using WLF's USD1 stablecoin—a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar that generated fees for the Trump family.
The transaction raised profound Foreign Emoluments Clause concerns. A state-backed investment fund from the United Arab Emirates—a country with ongoing foreign policy and commercial relationships with the United States—was providing $2 billion to a financial platform owned by a sitting U.S. president. Unlike traditional foreign investments in U.S. businesses that operate at arm's length from government policy, this investment went directly to a Trump family enterprise while Trump administered policy affecting UAE interests including arms sales, military basing agreements, and sanctions enforcement.
The $2 billion MGX investment was connected to a broader deal in which Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, agreed to accept $2 billion invested through WLF's USD1 stablecoin as part of a capital raise. Following this transaction, the Trump administration's SEC dropped its long-running lawsuit against Binance. ABC News reported in May 2025 that the Trump family crypto venture was "tapped as part of" the $2 billion Emirati-backed investment deal, documenting the sequence of events that critics characterized as a direct quid pro quo: foreign investment in Trump family cryptocurrency, followed by favorable U.S. regulatory treatment for the Emirati investment partner's business relationships.