WSJ: How did Witkoff and his son build a crypto empire for Trump?

Authors: Rebecca Ballhaus, Angus Berwick, The Wall Street Journal; Translator: Luffy, Foresight News

A month before President Trump’s inauguration, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff flew to the United Arab Emirates with two goals: to discuss regional issues with Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, and to attend a cryptocurrency conference.

Steve Witkoff and his son, crypto entrepreneur Zach Witkoff, at the Republican National Convention last July. Image source: Bloomberg

Less than five months later, Witkoff's son, Zach Witkoff, co-founder of crypto firm World Liberty Financial, announced at a conference in Dubai that the company had reached an agreement with Tahnoon's company to buy $2 billion of World Liberty's cryptocurrency. The Witkoffs and the Trump family (note: the Trump family holds a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial) are expected to share tens of millions of dollars in annual profits.

On May 15, the elder Witkoff met with Tahnoon again, this time to unveil a long-sought deal by the UAE: giving the oil-rich Gulf monarchy access to millions of advanced American-made computer chips.

Steve Witkoff, 68, a longtime friend of Trump, has traveled around the world to handle diplomatic affairs since serving as special envoy. Meanwhile, his 32-year-old son Zach Witkoff and his team of advisers have traveled to at least four countries to promote crypto transactions aimed at making World Liberty Financial an industry leader.

The parallel transactions between the father and son in the UAE are a stark example of how World Liberty Financial's business efforts are intertwined with government affairs.

In a pitch call with crypto companies, Zach Witkoff compared Trump to "the Godfather" and said World Liberty would take full advantage of the increasingly friendly crypto regulatory policy changes in the United States, according to people familiar with the matter. His posts on the X platform often mention his father's work for the White House. The interweaving of government negotiations and private business deals is rewriting the rules of diplomacy for some countries trying to build ties with the new Trump administration. The pursuit of business opportunities in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere by Trump-linked parties, including the Witkoffs, since Trump took office has not previously been reported. In addition to hiring U.S. lobbyists and sending delegations to Washington to improve relations with the Trump White House, some countries seeking to advance their own affairs have met with family members of U.S. officials and their friends, according to people familiar with the matter and photos and videos of the meetings posted on social media. For example, a senior Pakistani finance minister met with the sister-in-law of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the 19-year-old son of a close friend of Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, to discuss digital assets.

On May 1, World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff (center), crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun (left) and Trump's second son Eric Trump (right) attended the cryptocurrency conference Token2049 in Dubai. Photo source: Wall Street Journal

White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said that Steve Witkoff is divesting his assets, including World Liberty, and he does not hold any "operating position" in the company and will not discuss company or personal matters while serving in government. She said that Trump is "incredibly proud of what Steve has accomplished." Witkoff, who does not take a government salary but travels around the world on a private jet and has not disclosed his finances, has said he will transfer all of his assets to his sons.

World Liberty spokesman David Wachsman said the company's business dealings have nothing to do with the U.S. government and that the company "is not even in a position to discuss official government matters." He said it was incorrect to "try to characterize World Liberty and Ambassador Witkoff holding meetings in the same country as some kind of conflict of interest," adding that "there is no connection between the two."

He denied that Zach Witkoff had called Trump his godfather, noting that Witkoff is Jewish and has no godfather.

The Trump family’s real estate company, the Trump Organization, has pledged not to strike new deals with foreign governments during the Trump administration. World Liberty has made no such commitment.

Before getting into crypto, Zach Witkoff worked as a project manager at his father’s New York real estate company, the Witkoff Group. In 2020, he took over the family office and, according to his LinkedIn profile, is “focused on blockchain.” He founded World Liberty with his father and others in September, seven weeks before the presidential election.

World Liberty issued a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency called USD1 that is designed to help businesses and individuals move money across borders outside the banking system. The company has marketed tokens to foreign governments eager to improve relations with the United States, according to people who have worked with the company.

In addition to World Liberty’s meetings with UAE officials, Zach Witkoff met with senior government officials in Pakistan, weeks before those same people negotiated a ceasefire with India with the Trump administration. He told them that World Liberty could use blockchain technology to “tokenize” the buying and selling of Pakistan’s rare earth minerals. Meanwhile, Pakistan has been negotiating with the United States a potentially trillion-dollar deal for rare earths and other minerals, according to a lobbyist working with Pakistan on the deal.

A World Liberty spokesman said the company’s meetings in Pakistan had “nothing to do” with any deal Pakistan might negotiate with the Trump administration.

Zach Witkoff's advisers and colleagues also met with Malaysia's foreign minister and prime minister and Kyrgyzstan's president, and spoke at a Moscow cryptocurrency conference attended by Russia's deputy finance minister.

Steve Witkoff (second from left) met with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan (second from right) in Abu Dhabi this month. Photos posted on Sheikh's Instagram account

Changpeng Zhao, founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, made some introductions for World Liberty's overseas tour. In 2023, Zhao Changpeng and Binance pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Zhao Changpeng has been seeking a pardon from the Trump administration, hoping his company will return to the U.S. market and want to end compliance requirements imposed after reaching a settlement with the Justice Department. A spokesman for World Liberty said Zhao Changpeng and Zach Witkoff are friends, but Zhao Changpeng is not a mediator.

A Binance spokesman said Zhao Changpeng has been promoting "global innovation" in the cryptocurrency industry and the company is "proud to help the United States become the global cryptocurrency capital."

World Liberty does not disclose its token purchasers but has raised more than $550 million in token sales this year. Buyers that have disclosed purchases include Abu Dhabi-based cryptocurrency trading firm DWF Labs, which bought $25 million worth of tokens, and Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, who invested $75 million and now serves as an adviser to the company. Sun was a guest of honor at a cryptocurrency-related dinner with Trump on Thursday night.

The World Liberty team has held talks with other Gulf companies about potential token purchases, according to people familiar with the matter, and has said such deals could help its expansion plans in the United States. A World Liberty spokesman denied the company's claim that such deals could help its expansion plans in the United States.

Since taking office, Trump has been working to weaken government regulation of the cryptocurrency industry. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped more than a dozen cases against cryptocurrency companies, including one against Justin Sun, World Liberty's largest known outside investor.

Business is booming for World Liberty. Just one month after its launch, USD1 has become the world's fifth-largest stablecoin by market value, thanks to a partnership with the United Arab Emirates. Binance launched USD1 trading on Thursday, a move that could boost demand for the token.

"This is just the beginning," Zach Witkoff posted on X in May.

Cryptocurrency connection

A few weeks after Trump won the 2024 election, Steve Witkoff, an old friend from the New York real estate circle, embarked on a trip to the Middle East. According to people familiar with the matter, Witkoff, who was appointed as a special envoy to the Middle East shortly after Trump's victory, told Biden administration officials that he wanted to start rebuilding his connections in the region.

While in Abu Dhabi, Witkoff attended a cryptocurrency conference and privately communicated with other crypto entrepreneurs who later became key figures in World Liberty, including Justin Sun and Changpeng Zhao. Witkoff told attendees that cryptocurrency would develop rapidly under Trump.

Zach Witkoff was not present because his wife was in labor. They named their son Don, after the president. He and his brother Alex have taken over World Liberty.

The father, Steve, who was not yet familiar with crypto technology, was involved in the deal negotiations between Zhao Changpeng's crypto exchange Binance and representatives of the Trump family, according to the Wall Street Journal. Both Witkoff and Zhao Changpeng denied any involvement in the negotiations.

As Trump's inauguration day approaches, some countries are beginning to explore new ways to build ties. During Trump's first term, relations between Pakistan and the United States were tense. The United States suspended $300 million in military aid to Pakistan in 2018, and Trump repeatedly accused the country of not doing enough to combat militant groups.

Seeking a new start, Pakistan hired an American lobbyist in early January to help arrange a meeting in Washington during Trump’s inauguration, where Pakistan’s interior minister called for more American investment.

In late January, Gentry Beach, a Texas financier and friend of Donald Trump Jr., led a delegation of investors to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet, saying he wanted to invest billions of dollars in luxury real estate and Pakistan’s mineral sector, which is rich in rare earth minerals such as lithium. Earlier that month, at an event at Mar-a-Lago, Beach boasted about the access he had gained to foreign government leaders after Trump’s victory. “They treated me like President Trump,” he said.

Beach’s 20-year-old son, Gentry Beach Jr., met with Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, a former JPMorgan Chase executive, in Islamabad in February to discuss opportunities for developing the crypto industry in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Finance Ministry sees cryptocurrencies as a way to attract cautious foreign investors and revive the sluggish economy.

Beach Jr. was joined at the meeting by a Dubai sheikh, a Russian tech executive and the co-founder of the crypto project IslamicCoin. Beach said her son didn’t know the others present and never represented himself in any capacity associated with the U.S. government.

Another American with ties to the Trump administration was also in attendance: Keli Whitlock, chief commercial officer of Blockchain America. His sister is married to Defense Secretary Hegseth.

Pakistani officials do not see Beach as the right person to help Pakistan become a regional cryptocurrency leader, according to a person familiar with the matter. The finance minister ordered the creation of a national cryptocurrency committee to oversee the drafting of cryptocurrency regulations in the hope of attracting investors. He appointed Pakistani tech entrepreneur Bilal bin Saqib, who attended a Binance yacht party in Abu Dhabi in December and a UAE cryptocurrency conference attended by Steve Witkoff, as the head.

Pakistan's engagement

Pakistan has reason to hope for improved relations with the Trump administration. In late February, the U.S. government exempted $397 million in security aid to Pakistan from its foreign aid freeze. In his State of the Union address, Trump thanked Pakistan for helping to arrest a terrorist, which delighted Pakistani officials.

In April, Pakistan signed an agreement to pay Trump's former bodyguard Keith Schiller and former Trump Organization chief lawyer George Sorial $200,000 a month to hire the two as consultants to help the country establish a "long-term economic partnership" with the United States, especially in the fields of rare earths and critical minerals, lobbying records show.

At almost the same time, Binance's Zhao Changpeng went to Pakistan and was appointed as a strategic adviser to the Pakistan Crypto Council.

About a week later, World Liberty appointed Pakistani technology entrepreneur Bilal bin Saqib as an advisor, saying he had experience working with the government.

Now, Pakistan has a Trump connection.

On April 26, a private plane carrying World Liberty’s leadership landed in Islamabad. Zach Witkoff and co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro were greeted on the tarmac by Saqib. In a ceremony with Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance later, Witkoff signed a memorandum of understanding that the finance ministry said would allow World Liberty to help Pakistan become a global crypto leader and use its stablecoin, USD1, for remittances and trade.

Later that day, the delegation flew to Lahore, where a police convoy escorted them to a century-old castle for evening celebrations. Fireworks were set off in their honor, and Coldplay’s “Fix You” blared through the night. “You’re sitting on trillions of dollars of rare earth minerals,” Witkoff said during a recording of a “fireside chat” at Shalimar Gardens in Lahore. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said it was Trump administration policy to support digital assets, calling it a “new area of ​​diplomacy” for the U.S. mission in Pakistan. Pakistan’s finance ministry declined to comment, and the Pakistani embassy in the United States did not respond to a request for comment. Lobbying records show that the finance minister was trying to arrange a meeting with the Trump administration while meeting with World Liberty. A U.S. lobbying firm hired by Pakistan in April for $25,000 a month approached a Treasury official in early May about facilitating a call with the minister.

Pakistan lobbyist Robert Seiden said talks on a rare earth minerals deal with the U.S. government were progressing quickly. He said that under the new administration, countries "recognize that there is now a path forward as long as they are willing to make commercial deals with the United States."

Trump continues to speak positively about Pakistan, saying on Fox News last week: "They are smart people who make incredible products."

Controversy and Regulatory Concerns

From Pakistan, Zach Witkoff traveled to Abu Dhabi for a private Binance meeting to meet with Changpeng Zhao, and then to Dubai for the Token2049 conference, where he and Eric Trump announced that Sheikh Tahnoon's company MGX's $2 billion investment in Binance will be paid in World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin.

Changpeng Zhao continues to open doors for World Liberty. In May, he traveled to Kyrgyzstan to meet with the president and formally joined the country's National Crypto Commission. He and a World Liberty adviser also met with the Malaysian government to discuss the two countries' "digital financial cooperation" on crypto regulation.

Some Democratic lawmakers are investigating whether World Liberty's interactions with foreign governments and foreign citizens violate the law.

Last week, Zach Witkoff published a letter on the X platform in response to questions from Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. Blumenthal asked for World Liberty's financial details, communications with the Trump administration, and other policy information.

Witkoff’s letter said World Liberty had conducted “rigorous due diligence” to comply with the law but did not provide the requested records.

The letter was signed by Teresa Goody Guillén, an attorney at Baker Hostetler who has also been lobbying for Binance since February.