Money Grab/Charge for access to the president
UAE fund Aqua1 buys $100 million in World Liberty tokens
On June 26, 2025, Aqua1, a UAE-based crypto fund, said it had bought $100 million of WLFI, the governance token of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, making it the venture’s largest disclosed tokenholder. Reporters could not establish who stands behind the fund.
What happened
World Liberty Financial is the Trump family’s crypto venture, co-founded with the Witkoffs, and its governance token, WLFI, had been sold to backers who could not trade it. Holders could only vote on the project’s code. On June 25, 2025, World Liberty said it was working to allow trading.
On June 26, 2025, the Aqua 1 Foundation, a fund based in the UAE, announced it had bought $100 million of WLFI. That made it the venture’s largest publicly known investor, ahead of Justin Sun’s roughly $75 million. The purchase was announced one day after World Liberty said it was working to make the tokens tradable; they could not yet be traded.
Blockchain records showed Aqua 1’s wallet had received 800 million WLFI about two weeks earlier. A Reuters review found almost nothing public about where the fund’s money came from, or about Dave Lee, the person it named as founding partner. Aqua 1 said its purchase was meant to speed a “blockchain-powered financial ecosystem” and that it would help World Liberty expand in South America, Europe and Asia.
World Liberty said it would back a separate Aqua 1 fund for the Middle East, to be listed in Abu Dhabi. The $100 million went to the venture in exchange for tokens it issued. It is venture inflow, not personal income to Trump.
Who benefited
World Liberty Financial, and the Trump and Witkoff families behind it, took in $100 million for governance tokens that could not yet be traded. The money went to the venture, not to Trump as personal income. Aqua 1 became the largest known holder of the family’s token.
Who wanted something
Aqua 1 is a UAE-based fund whose backers and capital source are not public. It paid $100 million to become the largest known holder of a token issued by the president’s family, and gained a World Liberty-backed fund of its own in Abu Dhabi. The UAE government deals with the administration on arms, chips and basing.
Who lost out
No public money is in this record. The president’s family business took $100 million from a fund in a country whose government deals with his administration on arms, chips and basing. Neither the fund’s owners nor the terms are public.
Why it matters
A fund that reporters could not trace became the largest known investor in a token controlled by the president’s family. The record notes the UAE base; it does not establish who stands behind Aqua 1. Six months later it emerged that a UAE royal’s vehicle already owned 49% of the company.
Sources The BlockReuters (via AOL)Reuters (via DealStreetAsia)Decrypt