A stablecoin launched by Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency venture is being used by an Abu Dhabi investment firm for its $2bn investment in crypto exchange Binance, one of World Liberty’s co-founders said on Thursday.
World Liberty, which aims to allow people to access financial services without intermediaries like banks, said in March it would launch USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by US treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents.
Speaking at a crypto conference in Dubai, Zach Witkoff said that USD1 would be used to close the $2bn investment by Abu Dhabi-based MGX into Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange.
“We are excited to announce today that USD1 has been selected as the official stablecoin to close MGX’s $2bn investment in Binance,” said Witkoff, son of Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The use of USD1 in the deal highlights World Liberty’s growing clout in the global crypto industry, and its ties to Binance. USD1 is issued on Binance’s blockchain.
Stablecoins are an increasingly lucrative cog in global crypto trading. Their issuers typically profit from them by earning interest from the treasuries and other assets that underpin them.
The value of USD1 in circulation reached about $2.1bn on Wednesday, according to CoinMarketCap data, making it one of the fastest-growing stablecoins. The identity of its major holders, however, remains unclear.
An anonymous cryptocurrency wallet that holds $2bn worth of USD1 received the funds between 16 and 29 April, according to data from crypto research firm Arkham. Reuters could not ascertain the owner of this wallet.
Changpeng Zhao, the Binance founder and former CEO, who was incarcerated in the US last year after pleading guilty to violating US laws against money laundering, met Zach Witkoff and two other World Liberty co-founders in Abu Dhabi, according to a photo posted on social media site X on Sunday.
“It was great to see our friends,” in Abu Dhabi, posted Zhao in response to the photo, tagging Witkoff.