BTC$81,244
ETH$2,382
BNB$730.15
XRP$1.31
SOL$103.28
TRX$0.3279
ZEC$1,211
HYPE$77.21
DOGE$0.0786
XMR$597.59Circle Shareholder Sues Trump and World Liberty Over UAE Deals
Circle shareholder Benjamin Greenberg says Trump violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause via a $500M stake in World Liberty and a $2B USD1 payment to Binance.
Circle Internet Group shareholder J. Benjamin Greenberg filed suit on Oct. 22 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial and US Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. He argues that deals with investors from the United Arab Emirates violate the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bars accepting payments from foreign governments without Congress's consent.
Details
According to CNBC and Spectrum News, the complaint centers on two deals tied to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser. In the first, days before the January 2025 inauguration, a Tahnoon-backed entity committed to pay $500 million for a 49% stake in World Liberty; the suit says Trump received more than $75.5 million from that deal after taking office. In the second, an Abu Dhabi fund chaired by Tahnoon invested $2 billion in Binance and settled the payment in World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin.
Four related entities are also named, including WLF Holdco, Stablecoin Holdco and DT Marks DEFI LLC. Greenberg asks the court to declare the payments unconstitutional, order a full accounting of foreign payments and bar similar deals without congressional consent. Cointelegraph reports he also seeks compensatory and punitive damages and argues the deals leave Circle unable to compete in the stablecoin market.
Circle said it did not initiate, direct, authorize or participate in the filing. The White House responded that Trump's assets are in a trust and there are no conflicts of interest. These are the parties' positions as of Oct. 22; the court has not yet ruled on the case.
What this means for the market
The suit touches the stablecoin market directly: World Liberty's USD1 competes with Circle's USDC, and Binance is among the world's largest exchanges. A shareholder filing does not mean a court will take the case up. Such disputes tend to run long, and the plaintiff's standing is likely to be the first question.
There is no immediate effect for stablecoin holders, but the case adds legal and political uncertainty around USD1. We previously covered USD1's $400M market cap drop. Live market data is in the daily brief; see also the USDC page.
Comments