Saudi developer wants to sell Trump hotel tokens to US retail investors

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By Iain Withers

LONDON (Reuters) -Saudi luxury real estate developer Dar Global hopes to fund much of its latest Trump hotel in the Maldives by selling blockchain-based crypto tokens to U.S. retail investors, its CEO told Reuters on Tuesday.

London-listed Dar Global is one of The Trump Organization’s main overseas partners, with seven projects under development including an 80-storey tower in Dubai, a golf resort in Qatar and hotels and high-end homes across Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Developers typically tap institutional investors or wealthy family offices for the cash to fund large-scale projects, but Dar Global CEO Ziad El Chaar said in an interview in London that it hoped to fund up to 70% of its latest Trump International Hotel in the Maldives by selling tokens to retail investors.

“We would like to … tokenize 70% of that development fund to as many token holders as possible,” said El Chaar, adding: “The biggest crypto market and the biggest amount of investors are in the U.S.”. 

Dar Global is in discussions with U.S. regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the matter and is exploring options in other unspecified countries, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters. 

The Trump Organization and the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter.

El Chaar said he was not concerned about any additional scrutiny resulting from Dar Global’s relationship with The Trump Organization.

“Obviously, with the Trump brand, you have the politics involved, but from our side, this is not our domain,” he added.

(Reporting by Iain Withers, Additional reporting by Federico Maccioni in Dubai; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Alexander Smith)