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Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) launched an investigation into a $500M investment by a UAE royal family member in World Liberty Financial, questioning whether the deal influenced U.S. policy on AI chip exports to the UAE.
What's the Scoop?
- The Investment: UAE national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan purchased a 49% stake in
World Liberty Financial for $500M four days before Trump's inauguration. The deal reportedly directed $187M to Trump family entities and $31M to Witkoff family entities. - The Policy Question: Within months, the Trump administration reversed Biden-era restrictions and approved export licenses giving the UAE access to advanced AI chips previously blocked over China diversion concerns.
- Khanna's Demand: The letter demands 16 categories of records by March 1, including agreements with Aryam Investment 1, payment flows, and any communications related to export controls or the pardon of
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. - Key Connections: Steve Witkoff serves as Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East; his son Zach is World Liberty's CEO. Sheikh Tahnoon oversees G42 and MGX, UAE investment vehicles that faced U.S. scrutiny over alleged China ties.
- USD1 Angle: MGX's separate $2B investment in Binance used World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin for settlement.
Bankless Take:
Ro Khanna has built a reputation recently as one of Congress's key corruption watchdogs, from the Epstein files to now training his focus on the Trump family's crypto connections. The timeline Khanna highlights is uncomfortable: a $500M UAE investment days before inauguration, followed by reversal of chip export restrictions the UAE had lobbied unsuccessfully to lift. Whether there's an actual connection or just deeply unfortunate optics, for the broader industry, headlines like this make bipartisan crypto legislation harder to achieve. Critics gain ammunition to frame digital assets as vectors for corruption rather than evaluating the technology on its merits. (See the latest “Bailout Bitcoin” conversation.) With midterms approaching and the political climate around crypto growing more contentious, expect crypto PAC money to ramp up as the industry puts dollars to work on both sides of the aisle with the hope of framing this as a bipartisan issue.
