Months after the United Arab Emirates poured billions into a cryptocurrency linked to Donald Trump‘s family, the investment may be poised to pay off: the UAE appears close to securing a major U.S. chip deal.

President Trump is said to be considering a shift in U.S. policy that could grant the UAE access to advanced American-made semiconductors, Bloomberg reported last week, with Trump expected use an upcoming visit to the region to begin formal talks on revising the so-called “AI diffusion rule,” which currently restricts chip exports to the UAE and dozens of other countries.

“The president plans to emphasize that the UAE is a natural American ally that’s made major investments in the U.S.,” one official familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg.

Why It Matters

While the chip negotiations and the recent cryptocurrency investment are not officially linked, both highlight the UAE’s deepening financial and political alignment with the Trump administration.

Critics say that Trump and his family’s close links with specific cryptocurrencies that foreign governments could ostensibly purchase for influence reflects a major conflict of interest for the president.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.

What To Know

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jake Auchincloss, both Democrats, raised such concerns to federal regulators earlier this year, highlighting the risk of foreign influence through the purchase of Trump’s own cryptocurrency tokens, which are separate from the UAE crypto deal.

“Anyone, including the leaders of hostile nations, can covertly buy these coins, raising the specter of uninhibited and untraceable foreign influence over the President of the United States, all while President Trump’s supporters are left to shoulder the risk of investing in $TRUMP and $MELANIA,” Warren and Auchincloss wrote in a scathing letter to the Office of Government Ethics, the Treasury Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission just after the inauguration in January.

At a cryptocurrency conference in Dubai last week, Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial and son of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, announced that a UAE-backed fund had selected the Trump family’s stablecoin, USD1, for a $2 billion investment into Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

A Trump business entity owns 60 percent of World Liberty, the crypto startup behind USD1, and is entitled to 75 percent of all revenue from coin sales. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are actively involved in the management of the company, and rely on three partners, Zachary Folkman, Chase Herro, and Zach Witkoff to maintain daily operations.

The UAE now appears to be on the verge of a major win as the U.S. considers lifting export restrictions that have hampered the Gulf nation’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The potential policy shift follows months of diplomatic outreach by Abu Dhabi to expand its AI infrastructure.

In March, UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Trump and senior U.S. officials in Washington to press for relief from the curbs. Weeks later, the UAE unveiled plans to invest up to $1.4 trillion in the U.S. economy over the next decade, targeting sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing.

The restrictions stem from global chip rules implemented during President Joe Biden‘s final week in office, which threatened to stall the UAE’s technological progress. Since returning to the White House, Trump has reversed many of Biden’s policies and voiced strong support for the UAE.

According to a source cited by Bloomberg, Trump has questioned why the U.S. cannot sell advanced chips to a country already approved to buy F-35 fighter jets—though the final terms of that arms deal remain under negotiation.

Following reports of a possible policy reversal, Nvidia shares jumped more than 5 percent in New York trading.

During the Token2049 conference in Dubai, Witkoff said the stablecoin USD1 would be used for MGX’s multi-billion transaction with Binance. MGX is the Emirati state-owned investment firm focused on AI.

“We are excited to announce today that USD1 has been selected as the official stablecoin to close MGX’s $2 billion investment in Binance,” he said, according to Reuters.

Eric Trump, who also attended the event, described the deal as part of the family’s broader branding efforts in the region.

“You’re not going to be walking into the Four Seasons using USD1,” he said. “You’re going to be walking into the Trump International Hotel and Tower,”he said, as reported by The New York Times.

World Liberty Financial, launched in 2024, promotes itself as a decentralized finance platform. Its stablecoin, USD1, is pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by Treasuries and other cash equivalents. Issued on Binance’s blockchain, the coin has grown to $2.1 billion in circulation, according to CoinMarketCap.

What People Are Saying

Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, said of the UAE: “This is just one incredible country. One of the most innovative, if not the most innovative, countries on planet Earth today.”

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, told reporters in Washington: “I’m not sure what the new diffusion rule is going to be, but whatever it turns out to be, it really has to recognize that the world has changed fundamentally since the previous diffusion rule was released.”

Anthony Scaramucci, former Trump adviser turned critic, on X: “The Trump meme coin stuff is bad for the industry. Don’t delude yourself. It’s Idi Amin [former Ugandan warlord] level corruption.”

What Happens Next

Trump is scheduled to visit the UAE from May 13 to May 16, as part of his first major international trip. The trip coincides with the enforcement deadline for the AI diffusion rule—a regulation introduced in late 2024 aimed at preventing sensitive chip technology from reaching adversarial nations or being rerouted through Gulf countries.