From Saudi to Maldives through Trump: All about the US president's new luxury resort

The Trump Organization has unveiled a new luxury resort in the Maldives constructed with the backing of Saudi-linked real-estate developer Dar Global.

The project is unique due to its focus on blockchain-driven investment models.

The announcement coincided with United States President Donald Trump’s renewed engagement with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday during the latter’s first return to Washington in years.

What we know about the Trump Maldives resort

Trump International Hotel Maldives is being introduced as a major hospitality venture in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The property will occupy a site roughly 25 minutes from the country’s capital Malé by speedboat, positioning it within easy reach of the country’s primary airport while still retaining the seclusion typical of upscale Maldivian island resorts.

According to details released so far, the development will consist of around 80 villas, divided between beach accommodations and stilted overwater structures.

Only one conceptual image has been shared publicly at this point, showing a villa with a curved, organic-style roof opening onto an expansive, teardrop-shaped waterfront pool.

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While renderings do not necessarily reflect final designs, early visuals suggest that the developers intend to position the resort in the highest tier of island luxury.

The Trump Organization described the accommodations as being “designed for discerning global travellers seeking the highest levels of privacy, exclusivity, and sophistication. The resort is set to open by the end of 2028.”

Once operational, it will add another property to the company’s global lodging portfolio, which currently includes locations in the United States, Scotland, Ireland, West Asia and parts of Asia.

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The Maldives project also extends the Trump family’s presence in a region where luxury tourism is highly competitive and where many global hospitality brands compete for wealthy clientele.

How the Trump Maldives resort is unique

Perhaps the most unconventional aspect of the Maldives project is its proposed funding method. Unlike the Trump Organization’s traditional approach — often based on licensing the brand to developers who undertake the construction — the new resort is set to be financed in part through tokenisation of its development phase.

This structure uses blockchain technology to create digital tokens that represent stakes linked to the project’s construction fund.

The companies involved are presenting this as a first-of-its-kind initiative in the hotel sector.

Dar Global’s statement characterises the idea as a pioneering approach.

“This pioneering collaboration not only brings the Trump brand to one of the world’s most exclusive destinations but also introduces an unprecedented financial innovation, tokenising the development of a luxury hospitality project for the first time. Unlike previous models that tokenise completed assets, this initiative tokenises the development phase itself, offering investors the opportunity to participate in a high-growth, premium real estate project from inception.”

Eric Trump, speaking on behalf of the Trump Organization, framed the move as part of a broader strategy to integrate blockchain technologies into the company’s real-estate ventures.

He said, “We are delighted to bring the Trump brand to the Maldives in collaboration with Dar Global. This development will not only redefine luxury in the region but also set a new benchmark for innovation in real estate investment through tokenisation.”

Dar Global sees the initiative as part of a wider transformation in global property investment.

Its CEO, Ziad El Chaar, said, “Dar Global continues to push boundaries, from developing world-class destinations to pioneering new investment structures. Tokenising the development of Trump International Hotel Maldives marks a global first that blends luxury, innovation, and technology in a way that will transform how the world invests in hospitality.”

El Chaar explained in comments to Bloomberg that the tokens will correspond to shares in a financing fund created for the resort, and that Dar Global intends to retain between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the overall stake.

Although the exact financial returns or specific rights attached to the tokens have not been publicly outlined, the structure is being promoted as a way for buyers to gain access to opportunities usually reserved for traditional real-estate financiers.

The Trump Organization did not provide additional clarity on whether token holders will share in profits, receive other benefits, or have any governance-related rights.

How Trump & Co. are shifting towards crypto-based investments

The Maldives development puts into spotlight the broader shift within the Trump business empire. With the US president preoccupied in Washington, the day-to-day leadership of the family’s international ventures has increasingly fallen to Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump.

The two brothers have become strong advocates for blockchain technology and digital asset-based commerce, aligning the company with a growing set of crypto-related ventures.

Crypto has already played a role in multiple Trump family business undertakings, and the US president himself has taken policy steps that bolster the industry, including executive actions supportive of crypto markets and the passing of new US legislation related to stablecoins.

Eric Trump, speaking to a crypto publication months before the Maldives project was unveiled, described a vision in which investors could buy fractional interests in major real-estate developments through tokenised structures.

He suggested that such tokens could even offer special privileges to their holders, such as dining benefits or access to facilities associated with the property.

He noted that this would provide “ordinary people a chance to have a piece of something that we do” and that under typical financing arrangements, “they want to be part of it, and under no other scenario could they ever have had access to that project.”

How Trump has collaborated with Saudi in the project

The Maldives project is being executed with Dar Global, a unit of Dar Al Arkan — one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent real-estate developers.

The Saudi-linked firm has been a long-standing partner of the Trump Organization, especially in the Gulf, where they have collaborated on several large-scale ventures in recent years.

Projects under the Trump-Dar Global banner have included hospitality developments, golf estates, luxury residences, and branded towers in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Dubai and Qatar.

The companies are also working together on major towers in Jeddah and Dubai, as well as other properties across West Asia. The Maldives resort represents an expansion of this partnership beyond the Gulf to South Asia.

The Trump Organization rarely invests directly in the construction of overseas projects and generally operates via branding and management agreements.

However, in the Maldives initiative, the organisation is positioned more centrally in the financial model because of the tokenised development structure.

This arrangement brings the Trump family’s real-estate strategy closer to the funding mechanics often used in crypto-oriented ventures rather than the typical licensing agreements that historically defined the Trump brand internationally.

With inputs from agencies