Trump Brand Enters Maldives with World’s First Tokenized Hotel Development

The resort will be located about 25 minutes by speedboat from the Malé airport and will feature about 80 ultra-luxurious beach and over-water villas targeting the high-net-worth traveler seeking exclusivity, privacy, and design-driven luxury. Opening is targeted by the end of 2028, according to the press release.

The novelty is in the tokenization element, because, whereas other tokenization efforts of real-world assets were focused on already existing and completed assets, this project claims to offer early involvement to investors by tokenizing the development phase of the resort.

Eric Trump, executive vice president of The Trump Organization, made a statement: "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 tokenization."

Ziad El Chaar, CEO of Dar Global, said the initiative reflects the company’s ongoing drive to innovate across both development and investment models. He noted: "Dar Global continues to push boundaries, from developing world-class destinations to pioneering new investment structures. Tokenizing 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."

The term “tokenization” refers to the process of converting rights to a tangible asset, such as real estate, art, commodities, etc., into a digital token on a blockchain, allows fractional ownership, increases liquidity, and democratizes investment participation. In applying tokenization to a hotel still in development, Dar Global and The Trump Organization seek to open the door to what they say is a new frontier for hospitality investment.

While tokenized RWAs have been gaining momentum since the beginning of the last couple of years, most offerings so far have focused on completed or operational assets, such as hotel ownership stakes and commercial buildings. This initiative shifts that model upstream into the construction and development phase. If successful, it could mark a meaningful evolution in how luxury real-estate projects are financed.

The Maldives is one of the world's most sought-after luxury destination markets, hosting ultra-premium resorts from major global brands. The entry of the Trump brand into the Maldives via the Trump International Hotel Maldives places it among competing high-end players such as Waldorf Astoria, Cheval Blanc, and Patina. For Dar Global, which has built a reputation as a GCC-based luxury real-estate developer with global ambitions, the partnership with the globally recognizable Trump brand offers brand amplification and access to international high-net-worth travel flows.

From an investment-and-crypto perspective, this move further signals the increasing crossover between blockchain-based financing models and luxury real estate/hospitality. For the crypto-asset sector, real-world asset tokenization has been widely discussed as a bridge between traditional ‘brick-and-mortar’ real estate and the digital-asset ecosystem. In that context, the project acts as a high-visibility test case.

Tokenizing a development-stage project also introduces a new way for participants to engage with luxury real-estate ventures from an earlier point in the lifecycle. Rather than waiting for a resort to be completed or operational, the model opens a path for more direct involvement in the project’s growth and long-term trajectory. This approach positions token holders to follow the evolution of the development in a more transparent and digitally enabled way than traditional structures typically allow.

The initiative also highlights how tokenization could broaden access to high-end real-estate opportunities by using blockchain based frameworks that support fractional ownership and digital transferability. The success of this model will depend on how the platform is structured and on the level of market adoption, but it demonstrates how hospitality investment is beginning to experiment with more flexible, technology-driven formats.

More broadly, the project reflects the growing interest in integrating blockchain technology into real-estate financing and luxury development worldwide. As tokenized real-world assets gain momentum across multiple sectors, this initiative adds a high-profile example of how premium destinations may evolve their investment ecosystems in the years ahead.

The project marks a concrete implementation of tokenization within a globally recognizable hospitality setting. It is a case study of how luxury real estate and high-end travel markets may embrace blockchain financing models. The Dar Global-Trump collaboration marries luxury resort development with blockchain-enabled tokenization and places the Trump brand into the Maldives for the first time.