• UAE’s Aqua 1 Foundation invests USD 100M in the Trump family’s crypto venture, becoming its largest publicly known backer.
• The fund aims to build a blockchain ecosystem with stablecoins, tokenised assets, and eventually tradable governance tokens.
• World Liberty will support a new Aqua 1 fund focused on MENA’s digital shift via blockchain and AI tools.

Aqua 1 Foundation

What happened? UAE-based fund, Aqua 1 Foundation, bought USD 100 million worth of digital tokens from World Liberty Financial. This is the crypto venture led by U.S. President Donald Trump’s family. Furthermore, this purchase made the UAE fund its largest publicly known investor.

Cryptocurrency

What is next? With its purchase of the tokens, known as $WLFI,  the fund aims to accelerate its creation of a blockchain-powered financial ecosystem. This will include stablecoins and tokenised traditional assets.

The $WLFI token is a governance token meaning it cannot be traded like Bitcoin at least for now. Instead, it gives holders voting rights on changes to the business’ underlying code. However, World Liberty has stated that it is working on making it possible for people to eventually trade their tokens.

“WLFI and Aqua 1 will jointly identify and nurture high-potential blockchain projects together,” said Aqua 1 founding partner Dave Lee said in the statement. 

Moreover, the fund aims to aid World Liberty in their expansion to South America, Europe, and Asia. Meanwhile, World Liberty aims to support the launch of a separate Aqua 1 fund. This fund will aim to foster the digital economic transformation in the Middle East through blockchain and artificial intelligence.  

Who are they? World Liberty launched two months before the 2024 U.S. president election by Trump and his business partners. It has since garnered hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. The firm aims to open access to financial services via digital tokens, without intermediaries such as bank