Trump family and Saudi partner unveil tokenised Maldives resort

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Donald Trump’s family business and its Saudi partner are to build a luxury Maldives resort that uses blockchain technology to attract investment, in plans unveiled on the eve of a visit to Washington by the kingdom’s de facto ruler.

The Trump Organization and London-listed Dar Global on Monday announced plans for the 80-villa hospitality development a short boat ride from Maldives capital Malé, in the latest venture to be launched by the two companies. 

The Maldives announcement also comes the day before Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s heir apparent, is set to meet the US president in Washington. The visit, which will be Prince Mohammed’s first in seven years, is expected to focus on defence, nuclear co-operation and Saudi investments.

The kingdom is seeking to parlay its long-standing ties with Washington and friendly relations with Trump into arms, artificial intelligence deals and a defence pact. It has been seeking to bolster its military capabilities and diversify its economy away from oil revenues.

Dar Global and the Trump Organization are planning to use the technology that underpins cryptocurrency in their newest development. Trump and members of his family have been enthusiastic adopters of crypto, with the president and his wife selling memecoins, his sons’ involvement in stablecoins and a bitcoin-treasury business. The Trump family crypto empire made more than $1bn in profits before tax over the past year, a Financial Times investigation published last month found.

The business has attracted controversy, as the Trump administration has pushed policies friendly to the crypto industry that benefit the new Trump enterprises. The Trump family business has also overlapped with countries and governments that are working with the White House.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has raised billions of dollars from Gulf sovereign wealth funds for his investment fund Affinity Partners, including $2bn from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence investment vehicle MGX bought $2bn worth of stablecoin produced by World Liberty Financial, in which the Trump family owns a stake, to invest in crypto exchange Binance.

The Trump Organization and Dar Global have already begun a string of projects across the Middle East, with Trump Towers from Jeddah to Dubai, luxury hotels, and golf courses in Qatar and Oman. The international arm of major Saudi developer Dar al Arkan, Dar Global pays the Trump Organization to license its name for the real estate projects.  

The Maldives initiative is the first time the pair have opened a path for outside investors to participate via so-called tokenisation. This would use blockchain to break up an asset into pieces that can then be bought and sold digitally.

The companies said this was the first time a luxury hospitality project had been tokenised, a claim the FT has not been able to verify.

Eric Trump, a Trump Organization executive vice-president, said the company was “delighted to bring the Trump brand to the Maldives in collaboration with Dar Global”.

He predicted its financing model would “set a new benchmark for innovation in real estate investment through tokenisation”. The statement released by the companies did not clarify how the tokenisation would work.