Abu Dhabi Investment Group MGX Agrees to Invest $2 Billion in Binance in Early 2025, Valuing the Company at $75 Billion
Abu Dhabi Investment Group MGX has agreed to invest $2 billion in Binance in early 2025, corresponding to a valuation of $75 billion, acquiring a minority stake.
This marks Binance's first introduction of institutional shareholders and MGX's first public entry into the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector. Both parties issued a statement on March 12, 2025, stating that the investment would be completed in stablecoins and referred to it as the largest single investment in the history of cryptocurrency companies; the specific stablecoin was not named, and the shareholding ratio was not disclosed.
MGX views Binance as a funding channel connecting cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, positioning itself as a high-tech transfer service for automated AI agents to make payments on behalf of users. The group was initiated by Mubadala and G42 in March 2024, chaired by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with an initial target management scale of $100 billion.
Binance CEO Richard Teng stated that the focus of the collaboration is on compliance, security, and user protection. Teng previously led the financial regulatory authority for Abu Dhabi Global Market and is now based in the UAE; Binance has about 1,000 employees in the UAE and holds a crypto regulatory license in Dubai but has not designated the UAE as its global headquarters.
In May 2025, Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, stated in Dubai that MGX's $2 billion investment would be settled in USD1, a stablecoin issued by the institution. On-chain data shows that an anonymous wallet received approximately $2 billion USD1 between April 16 and 29. MGX later told the media that the choice of stablecoin was to reduce volatility, and it did not pay the issuer, nor does it currently hold USD1.
The buyer is the sovereign-backed MGX, while the seller is Binance's existing equity. The funds entered the exchange's equity in stablecoins rather than the public secondary market; the event was driven by Abu Dhabi extending AI investments into payment channels. Beneficiaries include Binance, which gains institutional endorsement, MGX, which secures AI agent payment access, and the USD1 issuer, which benefits from increased reserve scale and interest from U.S. Treasury bonds; the pressured party is the counterparty facing inquiries from U.S. lawmakers and conflicts of interest.
Binance pleaded guilty to U.S. anti-money laundering criminal charges in 2023 and paid over $4 billion in fines. Subsequent statistics from Forbes showed that Binance wallets and user accounts once held about 87% of circulating USD1.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Before acquiring a stake in Binance, MGX's path had been focused on artificial intelligence infrastructure rather than exchanges. It was initiated by Mubadala and G42, with G42 having accepted a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft; its portfolio includes OpenAI, xAI, Anthropic, Databricks, and it is collaborating with BlackRock and Microsoft to establish an AI fund exceeding $30 billion, while also planning to invest about $7 billion in the Stargate data center project. On the Binance side, it carries a compliance record of pleading guilty in 2023 and paying over $4 billion in fines, with Richard Teng transitioning from the Abu Dhabi Global Market regulatory authority to the exchange, effectively bringing Gulf regulatory experience directly into equity transactions.
The $2 billion did not go through a dollar wire transfer but was first announced to be in stablecoins, later identified by Zach Witkoff as settled in USD1. Sheikh Tahnoon also chairs MGX and was reported by The Wall Street Journal to have signed an agreement through a subordinate with Eric Trump in January 2025 to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million, without participating in WLFI token sale revenue. The equity funds entered Binance, reserves remained with the dollar stablecoin issuer, with interest accruing to the issuer's Treasury reserve structure; Forbes reported that entities related to the Trump family hold about 38% of World Liberty.
Comparable cases include SoftBank and Singapore's sovereign fund locking in minority stakes in Grab and Paytm from 2018 to 2021, and FTX in 2021 writing institutional funds into industry pricing anchors with a $1 billion Series B. MGX is transitioning from model equity expansion to payment control: OpenAI and xAI are buying models, while Binance is acquiring the settlement layer that agents will eventually pass through, with a valuation of $75 billion establishing minority equity as infrastructure rather than cyclical trading.
Essentially, this is a transfer of pricing power. If AI agents make payments on behalf of users, the rates, currencies, and access are determined by the settlement layer, not by the model companies. Abu Dhabi is using sovereign funding to integrate this channel into its existing AI portfolio and completing the settlement with newly issued stablecoins, layering reserve interest, exchange liquidity, and Gulf chip access negotiations into the same transaction. In May and June 2025, Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley wrote letters requesting MGX and Binance to retain documents, with the point of contention being the method of this settlement rather than the $2 billion itself.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Buying a model is renting capability; buying the settlement layer is buying access.
Equity funds enter the company, while interest remains with the issuer.
The minority stake does not define the share but rather the path for the next payment.