Author, Tanveer Malik, Journalist and Umair Mahmood from Islamabad
Published 2 minutes ago
Reading Time: 12 minutes
Pakistan says that it has not made any investment in World Liberty Financial, a crypto company associated with the family of US President Donald Trump.
This company was founded by Trump's sons and the children of Steve Witkoff, America's special envoy for the Middle East. President Trump has distanced himself from this company.
However, after their victory in the US midterm elections, Democratic Party leaders have indicated that they want to use the investigative powers of Congress to investigate the Trump family's crypto business and its foreign ties.
In a statement sent to the BBC, the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) said that Pakistan's relationship with World Liberty Financial has been mainly limited to technical cooperation and discussions on the possibilities of future financial arrangements.
At the same time, World Liberty Financial spokesperson David Waxman told BBC that in 2025, an entity associated with the company had signed an agreement with the Pakistani government.
Its purpose was to consider the possibilities of including stablecoins linked to the US dollar in the financial system.
It is noteworthy that in March 2025, the Government of Pakistan had established the Crypto Council.
After this, a Letter of Intent was signed with World Liberty Financial (WLF) under the same council in April 2025.
Letter of Intent is an initial document. It outlines the basic conditions, expectations and mutual agreement between the two parties before any final agreement is reached.
After this, on January 14, 2026, Pakistan signed an MoU with World Liberty Financial.
During the signing of this agreement, many officials including Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir and WLF Chief Executive Officer Zakaria Witkoff were present.
However, this company associated with the Trump family is now seen at the center of increasing political and legal debate in America.
Questions have long been raised about the company's foreign investors, its partnerships with other countries and the financial interests of Donald Trump and his family.
But after the success of anti-Trump Democrats in America's midterm elections, the possibility of formal investigation into these matters has increased.
Democratic Party leaders have indicated that they want to use the investigative powers of Congress to investigate the Trump family's crypto business and its foreign ties.
'I don't know anything about it'
Recently, this debate intensified after Trump was asked questions about his crypto business in the American broadcaster CBS' program '60 Minutes'.
The US President was asked that his son manages a cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, and investors associated with the government of the United Arab Emirates also have some stake in this company.
To this Trump replied, 'I don't know anything about it.'
He further said, "My sons run this company. It is difficult to explain to them that I am the President, so they should not do anything for four years."
Trump was also asked whether investors from other countries, who are investing money in a company jointly owned by the President and his sons, cannot understand that in this way they can get an opportunity to increase their influence in the American government.
In response, Trump said that he did not know whether foreign investors think this way or not. However, he said that such questions related to the possibility of conflict of interest have been raised with every American President.
Donald Trump said that according to him, this problem is not only related to him, but every president since the time of George Washington has had to face such a situation in some form or the other.
He also said that presidents in every era have had business or financial interests. The only difference is that today this matter is related to cryptocurrency.
Trump earned more than $500 million from World Liberty Financial
These questions are also considered important because recently revealed financial documents show that cryptocurrency-related projects are now among the most profitable businesses of the Trump family.
President Donald Trump had released 927 pages of documents related to his financial information in June this year.
According to media reports, businesses related to cryptocurrency have become a major source of their income.
According to a BBC report dated July 1, 2026, Donald Trump had earned a total of more than $1.43 billion from cryptocurrency-related businesses during 2025.
According to financial documents, Trump reported royalties of $635 million from Celebration Coins, an entity linked to the $Trump meme coin.
In these financial documents, Trump had also recorded earnings of more than $500 million from World Liberty Financial.
American magazine Forbes journalist Dan Alexander says that crypto business played a major role in the increase of about three billion dollars in Donald Trump's wealth between 2024 and 2025.
The role of World Liberty Financial was important in this.
In a long post written on social media platform X last Sunday, Dan Alexander told that the story of this company started before the 2024 presidential elections.
At that time Trump had announced the launch of a new crypto business named World Liberty Financial. The company had introduced it by linking it to things like 'financial revolution'.
According to him, initially the crypto world did not show much interest in this project. But the situation changed when crypto billionaire Justin Sun announced an investment of $30 million in it. Justin Sun was earlier accused of fraud by US regulators.
According to Alexander, after this investment, the Trump family and other partners started getting financial benefits and further investments started coming rapidly.
A day before Trump took the oath of office, Justin Sun announced an additional investment of $45 million. During this time, Trump also launched a meme coin i.e. crypto token in his name.
According to him, investment in this company continued even after Trump became President. Investment came especially from the United Arab Emirates.
He wrote that many institutions of the Emirate and investors associated with it bought tokens worth millions of dollars. Later reports revealed that representatives of the Abu Dhabi royal family had purchased a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial for approximately $500 million.
In this background, critics are considering World Liberty Financial not just as a crypto company but as one of the important financial interests of the Trump family. Now there is a possibility that this company may come under the ambit of Congress investigation.
Democrats announced investigation
According to a November 5 report by the Associated Press, Democratic Party leaders have indicated that they will use Congress' investigative and subpoena powers to investigate the business dealings of Trump, his family and his close associates.
World Liberty Financial is also included in the cases which the Democrats want to investigate.
According to AP, Richard Blumenthal, the potential head of the Senate Investigative Committee, has said that his committee wants to review Trump's crypto business transactions.
Blumenthal specifically mentioned Trump's crypto business relationship with Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy for the Middle East. According to the Associated Press, Witkoff has been a partner in the Trump family's crypto business World Liberty Financial.
The intentions of the Democrats in this matter became clear when the American magazine Politico reported that Richard Blumenthal has recently sent letters to dozens of private companies and two officials of the Trump administration.
It has been said in these letters that if they do not provide the information sought earlier, then other steps can be taken.
According to Politico, the crypto companies to which these letters have been sent include Binance and World Liberty Financial.
It has been said in these letters that these companies have not cooperated enough in providing the information and records sought by the subcommittee.
It has also been warned that if the required documents are not submitted by January 4, 2027, the committee may consider further steps to ensure compliance with the rules.
The headline of this news published in Politico is, 'Preparations to intensify investigation of Trump-related companies'. Richard Blumenthal has also shared this on his X account.
'Pakistan did not invest in World Liberty Financial'
And this is where the name of Pakistan comes into this discussion.
Because according to publicly available information, two names figure prominently in the countries associated with this company. These are United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.
In a report dated April 14, 2026, news agency Associated Press had quoted the Wall Street Journal as saying that the Trump family had sold almost half of its stake in World Liberty Financial to a company linked to the Emirates government for $500 million.
According to AP, later a sovereign wealth fund of the Emirates invested $2 billion in Binance through a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial.
It is noteworthy that stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency, whose value is linked to a traditional asset, usually the US dollar. Its purpose is to prevent sharp fluctuations in its price like normal cryptocurrencies.
However, all this information related to UAE was revealed through media reports. However, the situation is different in the case of Pakistan. Whatever relations and agreements were made between Pakistan and World Liberty Financial, they were announced at the official level.
This was announced by the Prime Minister's Office of Pakistan at the time of signing of the Letter of Intent between Pakistan Crypto Council and World Liberty Financial in April 2025.
Later on 14 January 2026, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Pakistan and World Liberty Financial. It was signed by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on behalf of Pakistan. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir were also present on this occasion.
In a post made from the X account of Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), it was said that this agreement has been signed between World Liberty Financial and the Finance Ministry of Pakistan.
But how much did the matter progress at the ground level after this MoU? Did Pakistan also invest in cryptocurrency through World Liberty Financial?
When BBC asked this question to Khurram Shahzad, advisor to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, he advised to know PVARA's side.
When contacted by the BBC, PVARA said that Pakistan "neither purchased any stake in World Liberty Financial nor invested any government capital in it."
PVARA said that for this reason Pakistan is considering the possibilities of new technologies including stablecoin and blockchain based payment systems. Through these, international payments can be made faster, better and less expensive.
The organization said that the government's objective is "not to promote any one company or a particular technology, but to find practical options that can help improve the financial system and reduce the cost of remittances coming from abroad."
According to PVARA, any practical steps taken in this direction "will be consistent with Pakistan's regulatory norms, financial stability and national interests."
In response to BBC's questions, World Liberty Financial also gave its stand on this matter.
Company spokesperson David Waxman said that in 2025, an entity associated with the company had entered into an agreement with the Government of Pakistan. Its purpose was to consider the possibilities of including stablecoins linked to the US dollar in the financial system.
According to him, 'About four crore people use cryptocurrency in Pakistan. At the same time, international remittances, which are important for the country's economy, are often expensive due to the use of old technology.
Currently, the focus of the Democrats is on the foreign relations and investors of World Liberty Financial. However, according to the available information, till now Pakistan's name has not appeared in any investigation related demand or public statement.
