Trump International Hotel Maldives To Be Tokenized

Published on Nov 18, 2025, 2:29 pm CST

7 min read

Key points

Trump International Hotel Maldives will be the brand's first property in the Maldives
Developer Dar Global plans to tokenize the resort's development phase, allowing investors to buy digital shares tied to the project
The luxury resort is planned with about 80 beach and overwater villas roughly 25 minutes by speedboat from Malé and targeted to open by late 2028
Dar Global says it may fund up to 70% of the development through token sales while talking with the US Securities and Exchange Commission
The project extends a growing Trump Organization pipeline with Dar Global that includes developments in Oman, Dubai, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia

Impact

Booking Outlook: Stays at Trump International Hotel Maldives will not be possible until at least late 2028 so travelers should treat this as a long range planning option rather than a near term booking target
Investment Angle: Prospective token buyers are effectively making a speculative real estate style investment in the resort's development fund rather than purchasing a traditional timeshare or vacation club product
Regulatory Questions: Dar Global is in discussions with the US Securities and Exchange Commission about selling tokens that could cover up to 70% of the project funding so terms and eligibility may change as regulators weigh in
Destination Context: A location about 25 minutes by speedboat from Malé should give good access from Velana International Airport while final transfer pricing and schedules will only be clear closer to opening
Brand Considerations: Trump branding can be polarizing which means travelers and advisors may want to match this resort carefully to guest preferences, loyalty priorities, and alternative luxury options in the Maldives

The Trump Organization is moving into the Maldives with a new flagship, Trump International Hotel Maldives, and pairing that expansion with a high profile finance experiment that will tokenize part of the project on a blockchain. The resort, being developed with London listed Dar Global, is planned as a roughly $ 300,000,000.00 (USD) luxury property about 25 minutes by speedboat from Malé, with approximately 80 ultra luxury beach and overwater villas and an opening timeline targeted for the end of 2028.

In parallel with the bricks and mortar plans, Dar Global and the Trump Organization are presenting the development as what they describe as the world's first tokenized hotel project, in which investors can buy digital tokens that represent a slice of the development economics from the earliest stages instead of waiting for a finished asset.

Trump's first Maldives hotel and a new funding experiment

According to Dar Global's announcement, Trump International Hotel Maldives will be the Trump Hotels brand's first property in the Maldives, combining a low rise beach resort and classic Maldivian overwater villas on a private island reachable by boat from the capital. The resort is pitched at high end leisure travelers looking for privacy, with marketing language that leans heavily on exclusivity and bespoke service.

On the funding side, Dar Global's chief executive, Ziad El Chaar, told Reuters that the company wants to tokenize up to 70 percent of the development fund and sell those tokens primarily to United States retail investors, a sharp break from the more typical mix of bank debt and institutional or family office equity used to finance large resort projects. Dar Global is already in discussions with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission about the structure, and is also exploring similar offerings in other jurisdictions.

For travelers, the token story matters less for booking than for understanding who ultimately holds risk around completion and performance. The hotel will still operate like a standard luxury resort from a guest perspective if it opens on schedule, but the capital stack behind it will look quite different from a conventional Maldives five star.

Background, how tokenized hotel projects work

In simple terms, real estate tokenization means converting rights to a property, or to the income from that property, into digital tokens recorded on a blockchain instead of traditional paper or database entries. Each token can represent a fractional interest in revenue, profit, or another defined stream, and those tokens can in theory be traded more easily than stakes in a private partnership, which is why proponents pitch tokenization as a way to open high value assets to smaller investors.

Most real estate tokenization so far has focused on existing properties, for example stabilized rental buildings or single family portfolios. The Maldives project is different because Dar Global and the Trump Organization plan to tokenize the development phase itself, which means token buyers are exposed to construction risk, permitting and regulatory delays, and demand uncertainty once the resort opens.

Crypto industry research cited by CoinDesk suggests overall tokenized real world assets could reach a multi trillion dollar market by 2035, but large firms such as Deloitte and EY also flag unresolved issues around fragmented securities regulation, unclear investor protections, limited secondary market liquidity, and smart contract security. In practice, that means travelers curious about buying tokens in a resort they might one day visit need to treat the offer as a high risk investment that sits much closer to speculative real estate or early stage private equity than to a simple loyalty or vacation ownership scheme.

Expanding a shrunken hotel portfolio

The Maldives announcement also fits into a broader effort to rebuild Trump Hotels after several years in which the portfolio contracted sharply through sales and rebrandings. Independent analysis and trade coverage suggest that the branded hotel empire, which once counted roughly 18 hotels worldwide, has been reduced to eight operating hotels and resorts in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, Charlottesville in Virginia, and three properties in Ireland and Scotland.

Trump's official sites now highlight a wave of new or planned developments, many of them outside the traditional hotel core and heavily focused on licensing the Trump name. These include Trump International Hotel Muscat in Oman, a high rise Trump International Hotel and Tower in Dubai, Trump branded golf and villa projects in Qatar, and large mixed use projects in Saudi Arabia such as Trump Tower Jeddah and Trump Plaza Jeddah, often developed in partnership with Dar Global or its parent companies.

Beyond the Middle East, the Trump Organization has also announced a series of projects tied to golf resorts and residences in Bali and Vietnam, including Trump Residences Bali and the Trump International, Vietnam golf, hotel, and residential complex near Hanoi, backed by an approved $ 1,500,000,000.00 (USD) investment plan. In that context, Trump International Hotel Maldives is one more piece in a wider push to reposition the brand around licensing and development partnerships in high profile leisure destinations rather than owning and operating large city hotels outright.

Analysis, what this means for travelers and advisors

For most travelers and travel advisors, the immediate impact is modest, because the resort will not open until at least late 2028 and construction milestones have a long way to go. In the near term, the announcement mainly signals that another branded luxury option is likely to join the already crowded high end Maldives market later this decade.

The more practical question is how the Trump branding and tokenization story will play with different segments of travelers. Some guests actively seek out Trump properties or see value in the political association, while others prefer to avoid the brand entirely. Advisors planning long range Maldives trips for clients who book far ahead, such as honeymooners or large family groups, may want to keep this resort in mind as a possible future option, while also noting that timelines and exact positioning can shift before opening.

On the investment side, retail buyers considering tokens linked to the development will need to understand that they are stepping into a complex hybrid of hospitality and crypto finance. Token terms, minimum buy in levels, eligibility by jurisdiction, and exit options will all depend on how the SEC and other regulators treat the offering, and those details are not yet fully public. Anyone looking at the tokens because they like the idea of owning "a piece of a Maldives resort" should read the prospectus carefully and, if necessary, consult a qualified financial or legal advisor rather than treating the project as a simple travel perk.

Finally, from a destination perspective, the location a short speedboat ride from Malé should keep travel logistics similar to many existing private island resorts. Once the resort gets closer to opening, travelers will want to compare seaplane and boat transfer options, baggage limits, and arrival cut off times from Velana International Airport (MLE) against other properties in the same atoll, especially when building tight same day international connections.

Final thoughts

Trump International Hotel Maldives wraps a fairly standard high end island resort concept in a very non standard funding and branding package. For travelers, the headline is that another ultra luxury resort may be available in the Maldives around 2028, but with polarizing branding and an experimental financial structure behind it. For investors, the tokenization pitch illustrates how rapidly hospitality capital stacks are changing, and how important it will be to separate marketing narratives from the actual rights and risks written into any token sale tied to this or similar projects.