Trump’s Crypto Scheme and Iran Peace Talks: A Dangerous Mix of Profit and Power

The Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial (WLF), is at the center of a tangled web linking shady financial deals, foreign diplomacy, and the fate of the Iran war. In January, WLF’s CEO Zach Witkoff signed a non-binding agreement with Pakistan’s finance minister to use WLF’s stablecoin for the country’s cross-border transactions. The deal seemed like a lifeline for WLF, whose token value has plummeted from 31 cents to just 8 cents in recent months.

What makes this deal especially troubling is who was standing behind Witkoff: General Asim Munir, Pakistan’s top military officer and a key player in efforts to mediate peace talks with Iran. Munir is closely connected to Steve Witkoff, Zach’s father and a billionaire real estate developer appointed by Donald Trump as his Middle East envoy. Steve Witkoff is slated to join Vice President JD Vance and Jared Kushner at the negotiating table with Iran’s representatives.

This is no coincidence. It’s the latest example of the Trump family mixing their personal financial interests with U.S. foreign policy. Pakistan, eager to improve relations with the U.S. after a low point under Biden, has courted Trump aggressively — even nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize. The WLF deal appears to be part of this effort to cozy up to Trump’s circle.

Bilal Bin Saqib, a self-described “crypto bro” and key architect of the WLF-Pakistan deal, has leveraged crypto to open diplomatic doors. Saqib, who chairs Pakistan’s crypto regulator, has maintained close ties to WLF and was seen at Mar-a-Lago with Zach Witkoff shortly before the Iran war escalated.

World Liberty Financial operates as a decentralized finance platform, allowing users to move money via blockchain without traditional banks. When users buy WLF’s digital tokens, the Trump family pockets a cut. They have already earned about $1 billion from this arrangement. Bringing millions of Pakistani users onboard could stabilize the platform and fatten the Trump family’s wallets even more.

Whether this crypto deal is driving Pakistan’s newfound role as Washington’s regional ally or just a side effect remains unclear. But one thing is certain: Trump is intertwining his personal financial empire with U.S. national security and diplomacy in ways that threaten democratic accountability. At the Iran peace talks this weekend, the line between Trump’s family business interests and the fate of global diplomacy will be dangerously blurred.

This story exposes yet another layer of corruption and conflicts of interest that define the Trump era — where the pursuit of personal gain trumps the public good every time.