Islamabad, Pakistan — A crypto partnership between the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial and Pakistan has drawn fresh scrutiny this year. The deal, signed April 26, 2025, ties WLF to Pakistan’s newly formed Crypto Council, days after a deadly militant attack in Kashmir raised India-Pakistan tensions.
We looked into the numbers behind the venture. By December 2025, the Trump family had already banked $1 billion in proceeds from WLF, while still holding $3 billion worth of unsold tokens, according to Wikipedia’s sourced timeline.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Jared Kushner hold a combined 40% stake in WLF. Donald Trump himself carries the title “co-founder emeritus.”
Who Brokered the Pakistan Deal
Bilal bin Saqib, a British-Pakistani entrepreneur, sits at the center of the arrangement. He runs Pakistan’s Crypto Council and also advises WLF directly, creating overlap between the two sides at the negotiating table.
Zach Witkoff, WLF’s chief executive, negotiated key terms with Pakistan’s finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb. His father, Steve Witkoff, serves as a special US envoy — a family connection critics call a conflict of interest.
Dawn.com quoted a source close to the deal describing it as strictly commercial, unrelated to the US government. “This deal has nothing to do with the US,” the source said, framing it as private business between two firms.
Ties to a Controversial Crypto Figure
Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s former CEO, now advises Pakistan’s Crypto Council after a brief prison term tied to a $4.3 billion anti-money-laundering settlement. Trump pardoned Zhao in 2025, months before Zhao took the Pakistan advisory role.
Wider crypto markets stayed volatile through the deal’s rollout. Bitcoin traded near $61,857 this week, up roughly 4% on cooling inflation fears, while Ethereum hovered around $1,705, up nearly 7% over the same stretch, per CoinDesk data.
Pakistan’s outreach didn’t stop at crypto. Islamabad nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize weeks after the WLF deal closed, a move that drew attention in both Washington and New Delhi.
