Abu Dhabi Firm Invests $2 Billion in Binance via Stablecoins

AI and advanced technology investment firm MGX has announced a $2 billion investment in Binance, the world’s largest centralized exchange (CEX).

The move marks MGX’s first foray into crypto, and is not only the largest single investment into a crypto company ever, but is also the largest investment made via crypto rails as it was transacted in stablecoins.

Ahmed Yahia, the CEO of MGX said, “As institutional adoption accelerates, the need for secure, compliant, and scalable blockchain infrastructure and solutions has never been greater. Binance has long been a driving force in cryptocurrency innovation, from exchange technology and tokenization to staking and payments.”

“The transaction will be 100% in crypto (stablecoins), marking it the largest investment transaction done in crypto to date. This is also the first institutional investment Binance has taken,” said Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), before quipping, “More stables to buy alts soon.”

MGX was founded in 2024 by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund and UAE-based artificial intelligence group G42. The fund announced its goal to reach $100 billion in assets under management (AUM) in March 2024, shortly after its inception.

Binance is the top cryptocurrency exchange by nearly every metric, with $21 billion in spot trading volume over the last 24 hours, compared to Bybit’s $3 billion and Coinbase’s $4 billion, and $74 billion in derivatives volume compared to Bybit’s $28 billion and OKX’s $30 billion.