US President Donald Trump's conglomerate and Dar Global are planning to build a new luxury resort in the Maldives – and the development will be tokenised as the former boosts its holdings in digital assets.
The Trump Organisation and London-listed Dar Global will launch Trump International Hotel Maldives, the first Trump-branded property in the South Asian country, Dar Global said in a statement on Tuesday.
Dar Global, the global investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s Dar Al Arkan, said the development – worth a reported $300 million – will issue tokens in its development phase instead of when completed, “offering investors the opportunity to participate in a high-growth, premium real estate project from inception”.
Property tokenisation enables fractional ownership, where each asset is divided into shares based on investors' budget and financial strategy. This allows investors to acquire a portion of a property without fully purchasing it.
At a basic level, tokenisation converts a physical property asset into digital shares – known as tokens – recorded on a blockchain.
“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,” said DarGlobal chief executive Ziad El Chaar.
The move comes as companies tied to Mr Trump's family ramp up their holdings in cryptocurrencies and digital assets following his recapturing of the White House a year ago.
However, the market has stalled, with Bitcoin, the world's first and largest cryptocurrency, sliding from recent highs and falling below the $90,000 level amid uncertainties surrounding the global economy, anxiety over the US Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates and worries that another technology-fuelled stock market bubble burst is in the offing.
Tokenised property developments, however, are carving out their own niche: in May, Dubai launched its first tokenised project, which sold out within a day and attracted 224 investors, 70 per cent of which entered the emirate's property market for the first time.
Less than a month later, Dubai's second tokenised development – valued at Dh1.5 million ($408,441) – sold out in a record-breaking time of less than two minutes.
The property is a one-bedroom apartment in Kensington Waters, Mohammed Bin Rashid City, valued at Dh1.5 million ($408,441), offered at a discounted rate compared to its estimated market value of Dh1.8 million, project promoters Prypco said in a statement. It attracted 149 investors.
The Maldives project to be built by the Trump Organisation and Dar Global “reinforces … forward-thinking”, the latter said.
