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According to a report by The Wall Street Journal citing informed sources, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, is the backer behind StringZ Holding RSC, which holds a 49% stake in WLTC Holdings, the parent company of World Liberty Financial, associated with the Trump family, which is proposing a U.S. trust bank. It is said that entities linked to the Trump family hold an additional 38% stake in the company.The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted preliminary conditional approval to World Liberty Trust Company on August 14. The decision announced by the OCC confirms that StringZ is an investor in WLTC Holdings and has signed a commitment not to interfere with the bank, but does not specify Tahnoon as its backer or disclose his shareholding percentage. The trust bank must meet OCC's pre-operational requirements and obtain final approval before it can begin operations.Tahnoon previously supported the acquisition of a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million, prompting U.S. Democratic senators to call for hearings on the deal and investigate whether it affects U.S. policy towards the UAE. Tahnoon currently serves as the UAE's National Security Advisor and is also the chairman of the artificial intelligence company G42. Cointelegraph reached out to the Trump Organization for comment, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

According to Cointelegraph, the affiliated company of the trading platform Capital.com, Capital Vault, has obtained a virtual asset license issued by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of the UAE, allowing it to handle virtual assets as an agent or matching party and provide custody services.Capital Vault will operate as an independent regulated entity, having established an office in Abu Dhabi and formed a local virtual asset team. After the service goes live, UAE users will be able to directly purchase and hold crypto assets through the Capital.com app, unlike the previous offering which only provided price exposure through contracts for difference (CFD).

According to The New York Times, two Binance employees were detained by police in the UAE in recent weeks as part of an investigation into potential financial crimes involving the exchange. Binance responded that this is a routine inquiry regarding third-party fund flows.Binance stated that the relevant employees have now been cleared and released. The report did not disclose further details about the case or the identities of those involved.

The UAE has announced the suspension of all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran, with the resumption time to be notified later. Retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt stated that the UAE's importance to the Iranian economy may make this embargo more impactful than the U.S. maritime blockade.The UAE is Iran's largest source of imports, with about one-third of imported goods needing to be transshipped through Dubai.

The cryptocurrency platform Bitcoin.com announced that it will integrate USDU into the self-custody Bitcoin.com Wallet, aimed at millions of wallet users. USDU, issued by Universal Digital Intl Limited (Universal), is the first dollar stablecoin registered as a foreign payment token by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE).USDU is an Ethereum ERC-20 token, with each token backed 1:1 by liquid dollar reserves held by a UAE-regulated bank. The related reserves are independently verified monthly by a third-party accounting firm, with reports published on Universal's official website. The Bitcoin.com Wallet web and mobile versions will support self-custody holding, sending, and receiving of USDU. Bitcoin.com will accept USDU payments for designated services and plans to support payments between users and merchants within its products. The wallet will also provide stablecoin education and Learn-to-Earn content. Exchange and trading features will be launched after support from third-party service providers, with specific availability varying by jurisdiction.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that, due to the escalation of regional tensions, all trade, commercial, and financial transactions with Iran have been suspended. The UAE reaffirms its commitment to dialogue, cooperation, and the integrity of the international financial system, and emphasizes that the suspension measures will remain in effect until further notice.

According to Bloomberg, the UAE is considering investing up to 1 trillion yen (approximately 6.3 billion USD) in the construction of an artificial intelligence data center, led by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. The project is planned to be located in Akita Prefecture in northern Japan, with a planned installed capacity of 500 megawatts, and may involve other domestic and foreign investors participating together.Currently, this information has not been publicly disclosed, and relevant details are still in the evaluation stage.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has requested the U.S. Department of Commerce to explain its policy towards the UAE, which involves granting the UAE-related entities more access to AI chip exports after the UAE invested in the Trump family-supported cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial.In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, it was mentioned that an entity in Abu Dhabi invested $500 million in World Liberty Financial in January; another UAE-related company used World Liberty's USD 1 stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The U.S. Department of Commerce previously reclassified the UAE to Country Group A:5, allowing it to receive more license-free exports, including advanced chips. The department also stated that it would "actively review" license applications for exporting chips and servers to the UAE entity MGX involved in the $2 billion investment in Binance.Warren stated that the actions of the Department of Commerce raise significant questions about how the President's cryptocurrency business interests may affect institutional operations and national security. In June, several senators, including Warren, requested a hearing on the $500 million transaction involving World Liberty Financial.

According to Jinshi reports, due to rising concerns over the escalation of the Middle East conflict, the long-term international bonds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE fell by more than 1 cent.

Binance UAE has adopted a policy to transfer most requests from foreign law enforcement agencies to the UAE and judicial assistance treaty process, resulting in slower access to user data.European investigators and U.S. prosecutors have stated that the relevant changes make it more difficult to track down fraudsters, combat money laundering, and quickly freeze or seize assets. Binance will still respond directly to cases involving child sexual abuse, terrorism, or imminent threats to life.Binance stated that it has not reduced cooperation with regulatory and law enforcement agencies and defined the new process as a stronger safeguard that meets regulatory standards. The company's compliance operations continue to face ongoing scrutiny.

According to The National, the UK fintech company Revolut has received in-principle approval from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to provide cryptocurrency-related services in the UAE, including brokerage, asset management and investment, as well as exchange operations.Revolut stated that this approval lays the foundation for launching virtual asset services under a regulated framework.

According to GlobeNewswire, the UAE private bank Goldman Lampe Private Bank announced that it has purchased approximately 120 million euros worth of Bitcoin (BTC) during the recent cryptocurrency market correction, further expanding its digital asset holdings.The bank had previously launched cryptocurrency fixed deposit products, and its chairman Abdullah Hamad Al Shamsi stated that this market correction provides an opportunity for institutions to enhance their digital asset allocation, and Bitcoin will continue to demonstrate resilience as a store of value and strategic asset.

According to CoinDesk, as the July 1 deadline for the EU MiCA regulatory framework approaches, several cryptocurrency companies in Europe are turning their attention to the UAE.Irina Heaver, a lawyer at the Dubai law firm NeosLegal, stated that the volume of inquiries from European founders has significantly increased over the past year and a half, with over 120 inquiries received weekly, about half of which come from European countries.Heaver pointed out that many founders are dissatisfied with the bureaucracy and regulatory burdens in Europe and are opting for the UAE instead. The UAE's cryptocurrency regulatory framework is designed specifically for digital assets, with processes that are faster and typically completed in a few days, while Europe may take months. Additionally, UAE licenses can cover markets with approximately 4 billion people in Asia, North Africa, and more.Recently, Binance has withdrawn its MiCA application in Greece and notified some EU users that certain services will be suspended. Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, previously stated that about 80% of cryptocurrency companies would not be able to pass the MiCA compliance review. Heaver warned that this could lead to "brain drain, tax loss, and job loss" in Europe.

According to FinanceFeeds, five Democratic senators urged the Republican committee chairman on Tuesday to hold a hearing immediately to investigate the reported $500 million investment by the UAE in the Trump family's cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial.It is reported that an aide to the Abu Dhabi royal family signed an agreement four days before Trump's inauguration last year to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million, of which $218 million has already been paid to Trump and entities related to his diplomat for Middle Eastern affairs, Steve Witkoff.The senators confirmed that the supporter is UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Since Trump took office in January 2025, his administration has approved several deals favorable to the UAE, including a $1.4 billion arms sale in May 2025 and authorization in November for the sale of over $1 billion worth of 35,000 advanced AI chips to UAE's G42 company.

On June 23, five Democratic senators from the U.S. Senate, including Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, jointly sent a letter requesting multiple Senate committees to hold hearings immediately regarding the $500 million investment by UAE officials in the Trump family's cryptocurrency project WLFI, to investigate whether this investment influenced the Trump administration's subsequent policy decisions towards the UAE.According to the letter, an agent for a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family signed an agreement with the Trump family to acquire a 49% stake in WLFI for $500 million, with the agreement completed four days before Trump's inauguration. The foreign buyer prepaid $218 million to entities associated with the Trump family and Middle East chief diplomat Steve Witkoff. The deal was reportedly endorsed by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the senators described this move as "unprecedented in U.S. political history."More concerning is the policy direction following the completion of the deal. The letter lists a series of decisions made by the Trump administration within months of the agreement that were clearly favorable to the UAE: approval of $1.4 billion in arms sales to the UAE; the Treasury Department establishing a "known investor pilot" program, which opened the green light for a fast-track approval process for the UAE that had long been lobbied for by CFIUS; and the Commerce Department lifting chip export restrictions from the Biden era, authorizing UAE AI company G42 to acquire 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips, with a transaction amount exceeding $1 billion. However, U.S. intelligence officials reportedly found that G42 had provided U.S. technology that could enhance missile capabilities to China.The senators demanded that Trump administration officials "explain under oath when they became aware of the payments to the president and his chief regional diplomat's family," and provide clarification on how to restore public trust. Currently, neither WLFI nor the UAE government has responded to this matter.

According to Bloomberg, the crypto-friendly digital bank Revolut announced that it has obtained the relevant license approval from the Central Bank of the UAE, and will use this as a starting point to advance its business expansion in the Middle East.

According to official news, International Holding Company (IHC), headquartered in Abu Dhabi, announced that it has completed a transaction worth $30,000,000 (110 million dirhams) using a UAE dirham-backed stablecoin. This marks the first large-scale institutional application of the stablecoin since it received regulatory approval.The transaction used the DDSC stablecoin and was executed on the institutional-grade Layer-2 blockchain ADI Chain developed by the ADI Foundation. Officials stated that this multimillion-dollar transaction demonstrates the operational readiness of the digital currency ecosystem and its ability to handle institutional-level transaction volumes. DDSC was created in collaboration with IHC, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Sirius International Holding, with technical support from the ADI Foundation. The approval of DDSC by the Central Bank of the UAE earlier this year is part of a broader regulatory push, following the licensing of several dirham-pegged tokens.The CEO of IHC stated in a statement, "This transaction shows that the digital infrastructure in the UAE is active, resilient, and ready to support real institutional financial activities."

According to Businesswire, Kraken's parent company Payward announced that it has received preliminary approval for brokerage, investment, and management licenses granted by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai, UAE, to expand its cryptocurrency business in the UAE.Payward expects to offer spot, margin, and OTC trading, staking services, and Kraken Prime services for institutional clients through locally regulated entities, as well as support for peer-to-peer cryptocurrency asset transfer functionality.