A 15-foot golden Trump statue, "Don Colossus," was installed at a Florida golf resort to promote the PATRIOT meme coin, with backers spending $300,000. The project faces legal claims and internal disputes, while the token’s price has dropped over 90%. Trump’s team denies any involvement. The fear and greed index remains bearish, and PATRIOT is among altcoins to watch amid ongoing volatility. The statue’s unveiling date is still unclear.

Original Title: "Don Colossus" a Golden Statue of President Trump, Waits for Its Home
Original author: David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times
Original Translation: Luffy, Foresight News

This President Trump statue is called "Don Colossus." It is 15 feet tall, placed on a base weighing 7,000 pounds, and its overall height is comparable to a two-story building. The giant statue is cast in bronze and covered with a thick layer of gold leaf. (Note: Don Colossus literally translates to "Giant Don," implying that Trump is a giant.)

For more than a year, this gilded statue has remained at the core of one of the most bizarre gold-mining plans of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors spent $300,000 to commission a sculptor to create the statue as a tribute to Trump, who openly supports cryptocurrency.

Subsequently, they used the statue to promote a Meme coin called PATRIOT.

Unexpectedly now, the plan seems about to be realized. Last month, a base made of concrete and stainless steel was completed at Trump's golf resort complex in Doral, Florida. According to records reviewed by the New York Times, Mark Burns, one of the organizers of the plan and a close friend of Trump, revealed to collaborators that the president plans to attend the unveiling ceremony of the statue locally.

"The statue looks great." Trump wrote to Burns in a letter last December.

Alan Cottrill inspects a gilded statue of President Trump in Zanesville, Ohio, that he designed.

Almost everyone in the cryptocurrency space is trying to profit from Trump's presidency: either by striking business deals with his family or seeking regulatory relief from his government. But few have acted as boldly as the supporters of PATRIOT.

Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency that has almost no practical functions other than speculation. They are usually built upon internet memes or celebrity images that have gone viral online, and their value is entirely determined by the price that internet fans are willing to pay. The key to creating Meme coins is to generate sufficient online popularity, making potential buyers believe that their price will continue to rise.

Building a giant statue is an expensive way to generate social media buzz, yet it is also a potentially profitable plan. According to one of the organizers of the plan, investors who funded the statue received a large number of these tokens, the price of which sometimes surges dramatically. For months, supporters of "Don Colossus" have posted progress images of the statue's construction on the X platform and formed alliances within the "Make America Great Again" camp, aiming for a major marketing victory: to have the statue located on Trump's official property.

At the end of 2024, the PATRIOT Meme coin was officially launched, coinciding with Trump's promise to make the United States the "global capital of cryptocurrency," causing the token's price to surge at one point. At an event held in Washington over the president's inauguration weekend, supporters of the token presented a bronze miniature statue to Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon and interacted with other conservatives.

But repeated project delays and internal conflicts have cast a shadow over this gold rush plan, also giving outsiders a glimpse into the turbulence of the Meme coin market: a market full of various scams, where investors often end up losing everything. Last year, the price of PATRIOT plummeted, nearly reaching zero. In order to rush the completion of the statue and boost the token, investors also had conflicts with the Ohio-based sculptor Alan Cottrill.

In text records reviewed by the New York Times, Cottrill stated that investors still owed him $75,000 in intellectual property fees for the statue.

"You are using my copyrighted statue image to promote your tokens!" he wrote in a message to one of the token supporters last month.

"Yeah, haha, we've planned to do this from the very beginning," replied Ashley Sansalone. Sansalone is a cryptocurrency developer and is also involved in another token project called Elon GOAT, in addition to PATRIOT.

A sculpture of Elon Musk commissioned to be designed by Alan Cottrill

Sansalone said in a statement that Cottrill's fees would be paid in full before the statue was unveiled. "In any commercial agreement, a portion of the payment is withheld until the finished product is delivered," he said.

But it is currently unclear when the statue will be officially displayed.

On Monday this week, after the New York Times raised questions with the White House and the Trump Organization regarding the PATRIOT token, President's son Eric Trump made a statement on the X platform.

"We appreciate everyone's support and enthusiasm," he said, "but it must be clear that we have not been involved in any matters related to this token."

Create "Don Colossus"

The plan to create "Don Colossus" was born in a group chat on the messaging app Telegram, where cryptocurrency enthusiasts often shared investment tips and promoted tokens. It was July 2024, and Trump had just narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. At the time, he raised his fist, his expression resolute.

Sansalone wants to turn this rebellious image into the core symbol of a meme coin. He collaborates with right-wing activist Dustin Stockton, and influential cryptocurrency investor Brock Pierce, who has long been involved in various legal and financial disputes, has also joined in.

Shortly after a bullet grazed Trump's ear, Sansalone contacted 73-year-old Cottrill, whose Edison bronze statue is now displayed in the U.S. Capitol. Over the years, Cottrill has created statues for more than a dozen U.S. presidents, including 10-foot-tall memorials of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Cottrill stands in a room filled with sculptures.

This group of cryptocurrency investors hopes that Trump's statue will be taller than previous works, and they have also proposed some modifications to its appearance.

"The figures I first carved were very realistic," Cottrill said in an interview last month. "People from the crypto community asked me to reduce some of the fat on his neck and make his body slimmer."

By the time Trump was inaugurated, Cottrill had already completed the sculpture, which was the tallest of all his works, though it had not yet been gilded with gold leaf. Last December, Trump shared on social media a report by Breitbart News about the project, in which it was stated that Stockton was in communication with the Presidential Inaugural Committee, planning to hold an unveiling ceremony for the statue during the inauguration weekend.

The timing of this repost was just right: the PATRIOT token had just begun to be sold.

The official website states: "A cryptocurrency for the people, this statue that no one can erase."

But soon after, the project encountered two major setbacks. The severe winter weather in Washington triggered a series of logistical problems, forcing the postponement of the statue's unveiling; and shortly before the inauguration, Trump launched his own meme coin, TRUMP.

As cryptocurrency traders scrambled to purchase the official token, Stockton and Pierce hosted a "Patriot Award" event at the Washington National Press Club, where miniature statue models were given out on site.

"The atmosphere at the event suddenly turned cold because Trump's token price suddenly skyrocketed," said Cottrill.

As of the end of January, the price of ATRIOT has plummeted by over 90%.

A piece of prime land

Despite this setback, the group of cryptocurrency investors continued to push forward with their marketing. Last February, the notorious former congressman George Santos showcased a mini Trump statue on Fox News and specifically mentioned the PATRIOT token.

A small gilded statue of Trump raising his fist, surrounded by several dark-colored statues of the same kind.

Stockton shared this video on the X platform, claiming, "This kind of exposure, you can't buy it with money!" In a brief phone interview, Santos said, "I was paid for the advertisement, and I have always been straightforward about that."

Investors are also courting another influential ally: Burns. The prominent pastor is a close confidant of Trump and is sometimes referred to as the president's informal "spiritual advisor."

After Pierce introduced him to the project team, Burns began to participate in the work related to the statue. He quickly became a key figure in reviving the project, proposing to gild the bronze statue with gold leaf.

"President just asked me for a photo of the statue with gold leaf applied." Burns wrote in a message to his collaborators in November last year.

Trump's wish finally comes true. Sansalone revealed to the team that he consulted a gold leaf supplier in New York who had previously provided decorations for Trump Tower. Cottrill also shared the latest finished photos of the statue.

"Too dazzling, too exquisite," replied Sansalone.

"Wow... Send this to the president," wrote Burns.

Obviously, Trump was moved by the statue. Last month, Cottrill traveled to Florida to complete the installation of the 7,000-pound base for the statue at Trump Doral Golf Resort and Spa. Stockton boasted on social media that it was a "piece of prime real estate." Burns said in a text message to collaborators in January that White House schedulers are currently "actively finalizing" the date for the president to attend the official unveiling ceremony of the statue.

Trump National Doral Golf Club, Florida

This should have been Cottrill's moment in the spotlight, but he said he had had enough of these cryptocurrency investors behind the scenes.

Cottrill said that it was not until the fall of 2024 that he discovered these cryptocurrency investors were using his artwork to promote a digital currency, which he believed infringed on his intellectual property rights.

In the end, he reached an agreement with the investor: the other party would pay 150,000 US dollars for the statue's copyright. However, he said that he has not yet received the remaining payment, plus other unsettled fees, and the other party still owes him a total of about 90,000 US dollars.

Cryptocurrency investors demand that Trump's statue be tall enough and have put forward some appearance modification requirements.

"In my opinion, they never actually purchased this intellectual property; they're using it illegally now," he said. "Unless all the debts are settled, this statue will never leave my foundry."

But the organizers of the program argue that the project actually didn't make much money.

Burns said that he had never asked for or received any compensation. Stockton, in an interview, stated that the PATRIOT token is merely a fundraising tool, intended to "provide financial support for various matters related to the statue."

"I haven't seen anyone make a fortune from this," said Stockton.

Kimberly Benza, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization, said the company only became aware of the existence of the Meme coin this week when the New York Times inquired about it. She did not respond to the question of whether the statue unveiling ceremony would take place as scheduled.

This farce did not stop the promotion of the project on social media. An X account associated with the token recently posted photos of the base of the Dora statue and pinned a detailed message explaining how to purchase the Meme coin.

"The dream is still very much alive," Sansalone said during a live stream with Burns on January 16th.

In addition to this giant statue, the team also hopes to present Trump with a gilded mini statue of the same design. "We hope to have a piece placed in the Oval Office," said Sansalone.

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