Trump’s Crypto Firm Paid UFC Fighters in USD1. A UAE Royal Owns Half.

World Liberty Financial paid $250,000 in USD1 stablecoin to UFC fighters on the White House South Lawn on Sunday. The bonus pool pushed total UFC payouts to a record $1.65 million, with the Performance of the Night winners collecting their share in USD1, the dollar-pegged token WLFI launched in March 2025.

The same stablecoin cleared a $2 billion UAE-linked investment in Binance earlier this year, and nearly half of WLFI itself was sold to an entity connected to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser, four days before Trump’s 2025 inauguration. The House is now asking who profits when those payments settle. Rep. Ro Khanna’s February 4, 2026 letter to WLFI is the formal vehicle for those questions.

$250,000 in USD1 on the South Lawn

World Liberty Financial was the presenting sponsor of UFC Freedom 250, the mixed martial arts card staged on the South Lawn on June 14, 2026, Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. WLFI contributed $250,000 in USD1 to the Performance of the Night bonus pool, lifting each of those awards to $425,000 per winner, per the South Lawn stablecoin bonus announcement.

Crypto.com separately funded Fight of the Night at $400,000 each, the promotion said. Fourteen fighters competed for roughly $1.65 million in bonuses, a record for a UFC card, with $25,000 bonuses for knockouts and submissions layered on top. The Performance of the Night winners collected their share in USD1 on the South Lawn, per the event’s rollout. WLFI’s role surfaced only the week of the fight, with the firm announcing its “official sponsor” status on June 10 via its own X account and shifting to “presenting partner” of the $250,000 bonus pool in a UFC press release on June 13. “We believe this is the future of finance, and we’re excited to partner with UFC, which has done more than any organization to modernize the business of sports,” WLFI co-founder and CEO Zach Witkoff said in a release quoted by the Guardian.

Trump co-founded World Liberty Financial in 2024 alongside his sons and the sons of Steve Witkoff, his special envoy to the Middle East. Trump was once publicly listed as WLFI’s “Chief Crypto Advocate” and his financial disclosure form lists his holdings in the firm as “over $50 million,” per the Guardian. The firm has applied for a banking license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and is in litigation with the crypto investor Justin Sun over its governance token, per the company’s own page describing USD1 and the Guardian.

A 49% Stake Held by a UAE Royal

The 49% owner of World Liberty Financial is an entity called Aryam Investment 1, tied to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and brother of the UAE president. The deal was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son, four days before Trump’s 2025 inauguration, according to documents and people familiar with the matter reported in the report on Tahnoon’s $500 million WLFI buy-in. The reported price was $500 million, with $187 million steered up front to Trump family entities and at least $31 million slated to flow to entities affiliated with the Witkoff family. Tahnoon himself oversees a more than $1.3 trillion empire funded by his personal fortune and state money, the Journal reported.

Tahnoon is sometimes referred to as the “spy sheikh” in press accounts. He leads Abu Dhabi’s artificial intelligence push through G42, an AI firm that intelligence officials and lawmakers raised alarms about for its ties to sanctioned Chinese tech giant Huawei. The company said it severed ties with China in late 2023, the Journal reported, though concerns persisted into the Biden administration.

The Journal called the deal “unprecedented in American politics: a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming U.S. president’s company.” Under the Biden administration, Tahnoon’s efforts to get advanced AI hardware from the United States had been largely stymied over fears of diversion to China. Trump’s election “reopened the door,” the paper reported, and Tahnoon met with Trump, Witkoff, and other U.S. officials in a March visit to the White House. The sheikh told officials he was eager to work with the U.S. on AI, the Journal reported. The Khanna letter is now asking how those AI-policy and ownership tracks intersected before and after the deal closed.

The Trump White House has rejected any conflict-of-interest framing. “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Guardian.

How USD1 Settled a $2 Billion Binance Deal

The same USD1 stablecoin settled a $2 billion investment in the crypto exchange Binance earlier this year, completing a deal that put the Trump-linked token at the center of a major cross-border crypto flow. Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm MGX used USD1 to close the transaction, WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff announced in May at the Token 2049 crypto conference in Dubai, alongside Eric Trump and moderator Justin Sun, per Witkoff’s Dubai announcement of USD1 for Binance. “We are excited to announce today that USD1 has been selected as the official stablecoin to close MGX’s $2 billion investment in Binance,” Witkoff said in a video posted to X.

The Binance investment matters because Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao, who was pardoned by Trump after pleading guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations. The Khanna letter asks for documentation on whether WLFI personnel were involved in discussions of that pardon, per the records coverage on CoinDesk. Critics argue the pattern of foreign capital flowing into a Trump family business, followed by executive clemency for the foreign capital’s counterparty, amounts to a new kind of conflict of interest. “Essentially, the president is taking the weakness in our current ethics laws that allow a president to continue to hold financial interests in businesses while he’s in a position of presidency to just a whole new level in this administration,” Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, told ABC News.

What Khanna’s Letter Asks WLFI to Hand Over

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, sent a formal letter dated February 4, 2026 to WLFI’s Witkoff. The committee demanded documents and answers from the company by March 1, 2026, per the records Khanna’s House letter requires from WLFI.

The letter cited reports that an entity controlled by a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family purchased a near-49% stake in WLF for about $500 million shortly before Trump’s inauguration, per crypto.news. Khanna’s letter said the transactions raise concerns about potential foreign influence over U.S. government actions. It specifically pointed to policies related to technology and strategic competition with China, including efforts to restrict the transfer of advanced artificial intelligence technology to the People’s Republic of China. The letter also noted USD1 was used to facilitate the $2 billion MGX investment in Binance, a crypto exchange whose former CEO was pardoned last year. Khanna’s office said those connections could have implications for U.S. national security and monetary policy, per crypto.news.

Shocking and scandalous

Rep. Ro Khanna, ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, used the phrase in a February 4, 2026 letter to WLFI, per crypto.news.

The House investigation also asked for capitalization tables, profit distributions, board appointment records, and due diligence materials tied to Aryam Investment 1, the vehicle that acquired the stake. Khanna’s letter asks WLFI to confirm whether $187 million flowed to Trump family entities and whether additional payments were made to affiliates of the company’s co-founders. The committee also instructed WLFI to preserve internal communications on conflicts of interest, export controls, and dealings with entities tied to the United Arab Emirates or China, per the records coverage on CoinDesk.

What the Khanna letter demanded from World Liberty Financial:

• Confirmation of the reported UAE-linked investment, including the buyer vehicle (Aryam Investment 1), ownership chain, and payment trail.
• Capitalization tables, profit distributions, and board appointment records tied to the foreign stake.
• Documentation of how USD1 was selected for the Binance settlement and any revenue generated from it.
• Records of any WLFI personnel involvement in discussions of Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
• Internal communications and compliance policies on conflicts of interest, export controls, and UAE- and China-related dealings.
• Records due to the committee by March 1, 2026.

The AI Chip Track That Opened the Door

The Tahnoon stake didn’t happen in a vacuum. Under the Biden administration, U.S. officials had largely stymied Tahnoon’s efforts to get advanced AI hardware over concerns the technology could be diverted to China, the Journal reported. G42, Tahnoon’s AI firm, had been a particular worry because of its ties to Huawei and other Chinese companies, the paper added. The company said it severed ties with China in late 2023, though concerns persisted. Trump’s election “reopened the door” on AI access for Tahnoon, the Journal reported, and the sheikh met with Trump, Witkoff, and other U.S. officials in a March visit to the White House.

Tahnoon told officials he was eager to work with the U.S. on AI, the Journal reported. The House probe is now asking how those AI-policy decisions and the WLFI ownership track line up.

The White House Calls the Coverage ‘Irresponsible’

The White House has pushed back. White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Guardian there is no conflict of interest and that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. “The Fake News’ continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read,” Ingle said. The company itself has been moving on a parallel regulatory track: WLFI also has a pending banking-license application at the OCC, which would put a Trump family business on a federal regulator’s books in a new way.

WLFI and the Trumps have together raised at least $550 million for the firm’s tokens, the New York Times reported via ABC News. Todd Phillips, an expert in crypto at the Klaros Group, told the Guardian that paying the fighters in USD1 would have the same economic function as writing them a check, with the announcement serving to advertise that “USD1 is out there and it is connected to the UFC and the White House.”

The bonus payment on Sunday landed in the same week the House committee’s records request was already in motion. House investigators are asking whether the same stablecoin that paid UFC winners on the South Lawn is also the vehicle that completed a foreign investment in a Trump-pardoned exchange. WLFI’s response to the committee’s records request is due March 1, 2026, per the records coverage on CoinDesk. The WSJ report on Tahnoon’s stake has not been confirmed by WLFI, and the company has not been charged with wrongdoing. The next clear date on the calendar is March 1, the deadline for the company’s records response.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is USD1?

USD1 is the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, the Trump family-linked crypto venture. The company describes USD1 as 100% backed by U.S. dollars and U.S. government money market funds, with reserves reported monthly. USD1 launched in March 2025 and runs across Ethereum, BNB Chain, Tron, and Solana, with a market cap of more than $5 billion, per BeInCrypto.

Who is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan?

Tahnoon is the UAE’s national security adviser, the brother of the UAE’s president, and the leader of the country’s largest wealth fund, the Wall Street Journal reported. He is sometimes called the “spy sheikh” in press accounts. Tahnoon oversees a more than $1.3 trillion empire of state and personal money spanning AI, surveillance, fish farms, and other sectors, and chairs G42, an AI firm that has raised U.S. national security concerns over its past ties to Chinese tech giant Huawei.

Why is Congress investigating World Liberty Financial?

Rep. Ro Khanna, the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, opened a formal inquiry in February 2026. The committee is asking for records on the reported sale of a near-49% stake in WLFI to a UAE-linked entity, on USD1’s role in the $2 billion Binance settlement, and on any WLFI personnel involvement in discussions of Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

How is the Binance deal connected?

In May, WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff announced in Dubai that USD1 had been selected as the official stablecoin to close a $2 billion investment by Abu Dhabi state-backed firm MGX in the crypto exchange Binance, per ABC News. The deal was disclosed alongside Eric Trump at the Token 2049 conference, with the Chinese-born crypto investor Justin Sun moderating. House investigators are asking whether WLFI personnel were involved in discussions of the later Trump pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

How much did the UAE-linked entity pay for the WLFI stake?

The reported price is $500 million for a near-49% stake, with $500 million in headline value, $187 million paid up front to Trump family entities, and at least $31 million slated for entities affiliated with the Witkoff family, the Wall Street Journal reported. The buyer is an entity called Aryam Investment 1. The deal was signed by Eric Trump four days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. The House committee is asking for capitalization tables, profit distributions, and board appointment records tied to the deal.

Disclaimer: This article covers developments in a politically and financially sensitive area. Figures, ownership stakes, and committee requests are drawn from named outlets as of June 15, 2026. World Liberty Financial and the White House have rejected conflict-of-interest allegations. Readers should consult qualified legal and financial professionals before making decisions based on stablecoins, foreign-investment regulations, or securities tied to any party named here.