Binance and OpenAI’s Mysterious Benefactor
In February, at a private event in Abu Dhabi, Binance founder CZ and OpenAI founder Sam made simultaneous appearances. A magical force connected the two, as they share a common investment institution—the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund MGX.
On March 12, Binance announced it had secured a $2 billion investment from MGX. The MGX board, led by ### Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan (hereafter referred to as Tahnoon), is the mastermind behind it all.
Tahnoon has a title akin to that of the “Mother of Dragons”: son of the UAE’s founding father, national security advisor, deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, brother of the UAE president, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) ###, chairman of the Royal Group, chairman of the largest bank in the UAE, First Abu Dhabi Bank ###, and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ) ###, as well as the International Holding Company (IHC) ### and the largest AI company in the Middle East, G42.
At 56 years old, he controls the UAE’s financial resources, with assets totaling up to $20 trillion.
This is not Tahnoon’s first foray into investing in cryptocurrency-related enterprises. Previously, his company IHC invested in the cryptocurrency group Phoenix, which is listed in Abu Dhabi. Its core business is the world’s largest Bitcoin mine, Phoenix Miner, which accounts for 7% of the global Bitcoin network’s computing power and operates a $650 million joint venture mine with Abu Dhabi and the sovereign fund ADQ.
Furthermore, Phoenix owns the exchange M2.com and the crypto investment institution Cypher Capital. Notably, Phoenix’s senior executive and Cypher Capital chairman Bill Qian is a former head of Binance Labs.
Tahnoon is now not only a benefactor of the world’s largest exchange and Bitcoin mine but also of the largest AI companies globally, including OpenAI, xAI, and Anthropic.
A businessman who has been in the Middle East for a long time told Deep Tide TechFlow that identifying Tahnoon is simple; whether indoors or outdoors, he always wears sunglasses due to his sensitivity to light.
To meet with Tahnoon, one must first interact with his trusted inner circle or share his interests: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, cycling, video games, chess, and longevity (he aims to live to 150 years old).
Only a few fortunate individuals have been able to board his superyacht Maryah to play chess under the sun of the Persian Gulf.
Cryptocurrency may just be an appetizer; Tahnoon is currently an ardent AI believer, pouring significant amounts of money into AI while navigating the complexities of US-China rivalry. Even someone of Tahnoon’s stature must choose a side between the two.
Gaming Enthusiast: From Chess to AI
Born in 1968, Tahnoon was favored from a young age, being one of the six sons born to Zayed’s most beloved wife, Fatima, and was viewed as his primary successor. In the mid-1990s, Tahnoon came to Southern California and learned Brazilian jiu-jitsu at a training center in San Diego under the name “Ben.” According to a website dedicated to Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Eastern Europe, he was quite humble, often arriving earlier than others and helping to tidy up the space until he later revealed his true identity as a prince from Abu Dhabi.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu became one of his lifelong passions, and in 1998, he co-founded the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship with Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Nelson. Filmmaker Bobby Razak is currently producing a documentary about Tahnoon, calling him “one of the pioneers of mixed martial arts,” stating, “Without him, the sport wouldn’t be where it is today.”
In addition, Tahnoon is a cycling enthusiast. He transformed a palace within the royal estate into a gym, sponsored the top cycling team UAE Team Emirates, and rides on an island near the presidential palace, which he converted into a cyclist’s paradise.
He is particularly fond of the ultralight Colnago bicycles, to the extent that he had a company acquire a majority stake in the Italian brand in 2020, showcasing his financial prowess.
But perhaps his greatest passion is chess. In the mid-2000s, a small supercomputer in Abu Dhabi named Hydra was dubbed the world’s best chess player. This 64-bit supercomputer, equipped with a 3.06GHz Intel Xeon processor, could perform 200 million calculations per second, contemplating 40 moves ahead.
The chief designer of Hydra, Chrilly, noted that their benefactor was the most passionate computer chess enthusiast, mentioning, “This patron enjoys playing games with Hydra day and night.”
This mysterious benefactor used the alias zor_champ to participate in online chess competitions, forming a human-computer team with Hydra, often defeating opponents with overwhelming superiority. This mysterious benefactor is Tahnoon.
At the end of 2017, Google’s AlphaZero defeated the world’s strongest chess player after only four hours of learning, far surpassing Hydra’s performance, which astonished Tahnoon and made him realize the potential of AI.
The following year (2018), he appointed former MicroStrategy CTO Xiaopeng as CEO and founded the artificial intelligence company G42. If you are a sci-fi fan, you might understand the deeper meaning—42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Here’s a little Easter egg: if you search for “the answer to life, the universe, and everything” on Google, the result is 42.
G42 is hailed as “the Alibaba + Tencent of the Middle East,” and is a leader in the AI sector in the UAE and the region. G42 currently has AI companies Core42, AIQ, Presight, healthcare companies M42, Hayat Biotech, data center service providers Khazna, and geospatial intelligence companies Bayanat, among others.
The management of G42 includes several Chinese figures, such as G42 CEO Xiaopeng and the CEO of its biopharmaceutical company Hayat Biotech, Cong Hongbin. The G42 Expansion Fund (referred to as the 42X Fund) has an office in Shanghai and has recruited Hu Ningfeng, the former vice president of JD Group and head of the strategic investment department, who joined the 42X Fund in 2023 as head of China.
Power Struggles and Transactions
Despite being a life winner envied by countless people due to his advantageous position, Tahnoon has faced challenges in his life. The founding father of the UAE, Zayed, had about twenty sons, among whom Tahnoon and his brother ### (Mohamed) belong to the “Bani Fatima” group—those born to Zayed’s favorite wife, Fatima.
After Zayed passed away in 2004, Tahnoon’s brother Khalifa became the president of the UAE, while the eldest brother of the Bani Fatima group ### was appointed as the crown prince.
In 2014, President Khalifa suffered a severe stroke, and ### took over the nation’s affairs, leading to a succession battle for the next crown prince.
Tahnoon insisted that tradition should be maintained, meaning that Zayed’s sons should continue to hold power as long as they were healthy and mentally sharp, positioning him as the most competitive potential candidate.
### insisted that his son Khalid should be appointed as crown prince. In response, Tahnoon even presented evidence showing that ###’s strategy contradicted their father’s wishes for successors. This is reminiscent of various historical stories in China where uncles and nephews fought for power.
Ultimately, the struggle concluded with negotiations and compromises, as the brothers reached an agreement: Tahnoon relinquished his claim to the crown prince title in exchange for significant control over the country’s economic assets.
In 2023, Tahnoon was appointed as head of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) ###, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the country. Weeks later, Khalid was appointed as crown prince.
Thus, Tahnoon became the “CFO” of the UAE, overseeing the two largest sovereign wealth funds, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and the Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADQ), the largest bank in the UAE, First Abu Dhabi Bank, along with his vast business empire covering real estate, agriculture, healthcare, energy, industry, shipping, catering, and retail.
According to the latest data from Global SWF, Tahnoon controls over $20 trillion in assets.
However, American media reports have indicated that in recent years, individuals who have interacted with Abu Dhabi consistently report that Tahnoon’s power has significantly expanded beyond the financial realm; he is responsible for diplomatic engagements with Iran, Qatar, and Israel, and has established connections with individuals in Trump’s circle.
MGX participated in the $6 billion financing of xAI under Musk, with its asset management company Lunate adding a $1.5 billion investment managed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for Affinity.
Tahnoon’s influence extends not only into wealth control but also into the realms of intelligence and technology. As national security advisor, he oversees the UAE’s intelligence agencies and utilizes them to establish G42, deeply engaging in artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
After resolving the power dispute, Tahnoon encountered new challenges on the AI road—geopolitical conflict.
AI and Geopolitics
Before 2023, G42 maintained close cooperation with Chinese tech giant Huawei, with many Chinese executives participating in the company’s operations, which drew the ire of American hawks.
“You have to pick a side,” former US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo bluntly stated during a meeting in Washington in 2023, clearly expressing: investments are welcome, but one cannot straddle both the US and China.
In August 2023, the US implemented significant restrictions, limiting the export of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) to the Middle East, with any company using Huawei technology prohibited from receiving these export products.
With a choice to be made, Tahnoon had to decide.
At the beginning of 2024, G42 announced it would sever ties with China and remove all Chinese-made technology, even dismantling Huawei routers from G42’s offices, and selling off its stake in ByteDance.
In April 2024, Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion investment in G42 for a minority stake, with Microsoft President Brad Smith joining the G42 board.
In the summer of 2024, Tahnoon embarked on a diplomatic tour in the US, meeting with tech giants such as Musk, Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft), and Bezos (founder of Amazon), and engaged in discussions with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and even President Biden in the White House.
On the other hand, in March 2024, Tahnoon took the lead in establishing the investment institution MGX, collaborating with BlackRock, Microsoft, and others to invest in the AI industry, specifically targeting American AI.
MGX’s CEO Ahmed Yahia stated that the company plans to allocate 70% to 80% of its funds to the United States. MGX made substantial investments in OpenAI, Musk’s xAI, and Amazon-backed Anthropic, and is one of the few supporters of SoftBank’s “Star Gate” project.
These efforts quickly bore fruit. The US authorized NVIDIA to sell GPUs to G42, some of which have already been deployed in Abu Dhabi, including a significant number of NVIDIA H100.
In this global AI competition, Tahnoon’s strategic pivot is not merely a business decision but a major wager affecting national fortunes.
As we examine this US-China tech rivalry, it becomes evident that whether they are tech titans, national leaders, or royal members controlling trillion-dollar assets, they are merely participants in the historical tide, each placing their bets on an uncertain future.
This article is a collaborative reprint from: Deep Tide