- Trump-owned World Liberty Financial has announced a new partnership with Securitize to tokenize the Trump International Hotel & Resort in Maldives.
- The company also announced a new partnership with $3.5 trillion financial giant Apex Group for its USD1 stablecoin to be used in Apex’s ecosystem.
On Wednesday, nearly 400 business, tech and government leaders (and rapper Nicki Minaj) congregated at President Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida for the World Liberty Forum, as CNF reported. The event concluded with the Trump family announcing two major deals for its World Liberty Financial, with both seeking to expand the company’s focus areas beyond crypto.
The first was with Securitize, a leader in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. Under the deal, the company will tokenize loans issued toward the development of the Trump International Hotel & Resort, whose construction in Maldives is expected to start soon and be completed by 2030. By purchasing the tokens, the investors will extend a loan to the company, and ownership of the tokens will represent a right to receive interest payments.
According to World Liberty, the tokens will be available to accredited in select jurisdictions, although it did not reveal the specifics.
JUST IN – The Next Generation of RWAs
We are officially partnering with @Securitize and @dar_global to bring institutional-grade RWA offerings.
(Availability limited to supported jurisdictions)The first asset on the list? Trump International Hotel & Resort, Maldives. … pic.twitter.com/lSuN652g6U
— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) February 18, 2026
The Maldives resort will be developed by DarGlobal, a Dubai-based developer of high-end residential and commercial properties listed on the London Stock Exchange. It will feature 100 luxury beach villas.
Commenting on the new deal, Eric Trump described it as an extension of the company’s vision of opening up decentralized finance to the world. This vision is now expanding to tokenized real-world assets, and the company will explore how it can bring other assets on-chain.
Carlos Domingo, whose company, Securitize, has tokenized over $3.2 billion worth of RWAs, including $2.8 billion for BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund, commented:
Real estate has been one of the hardest asset classes to tokenize effectively. We believe that scalable on-chain real estate products issued with compliance, governance, and market structure in mind will be globally sought after. That’s exactly what this partnership with WLFI is designed to deliver.
Trump Expands His Crypto Empire
In a separate announcement, World Liberty Financial revealed that it had struck a deal with Apex Group to integrate its USD1 stablecoin into the financial giant’s ecosystem for payments.
JUST IN from Mar-a-Lago!
We’re collaborating with Apex Group to bring regulated stablecoin infrastructure into traditional fund administration.
The collaboration will explore integrating USD1 across Apex Group’s broad ecosystem for subscriptions, distributions, and… pic.twitter.com/gDCni7T62N
— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) February 18, 2026
Apex Group is a global financial services firm that provides back-office support for financial firms, including hedge funds, asset managers and family offices. Its infrastructure connects to over $3.5 trillion worth of assets.
The deal will see Apex integrate USD1 for distribution, subscription and redemptions of tokenized assets in its ecosystem. With $5.1 billion in market cap, USD1 has now become the world’s fifth-largest stablecoin, in large due to World Liberty’s increasing tie-ups with Binance. As we reported, the exchange issued a $40 million WLFI airdrop as a reward for USD1 holders last month.
An important part of the new deal is that Apex will “examine pathways to make WLFI assets, including real estate and infrastructure holdings, available on the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) Digital Market Infrastructure (DMI) platform.” Apex connects to DMI where it helps the LSE make it easier for private funds to access financial services directly.
Apex Group CEO Peter Hughes commented:
Our clients are increasingly interested in blockchain-based solutions that deliver tangible benefits and cost savings. This collaboration with World Liberty Financial lets us examine how USD1 and stablecoin infrastructure can modernize our platform and services, while providing the edge to support our clients as digital asset integration becomes standard practice.
