$300,000 to create a gold-plated Trump statue, a crazy marketing stunt for Meme coins

Everyone wants to profit from Trump’s presidential term, but few have been as bold as the supporters of PATRIOT token.

Article by: David Yaffe-Bellany, The New York Times

Translation by: Luffy, Foresight News

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

For over a year, this gilded statue has been at the center of one of the most bizarre gold rush schemes of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors spent $300,000 to commission a sculptor to create this statue as a tribute to Trump, who openly supports cryptocurrencies.

They then used the statue to promote a Meme coin called PATRIOT.

Now, unexpectedly, this plan seems to be coming to fruition. Last month, a concrete and stainless steel base was completed at Trump’s golf resort in Doral, Florida. According to records reviewed by The New York Times, one of the organizers of the plan, Trump’s friend Mark Burns, told collaborators that the President plans to attend the statue’s unveiling ceremony locally.

“This statue looks amazing,” Trump wrote in a letter to Burns last December.

Alan Cottrill inspecting the Trump gilded statue he designed in Zanesville, Ohio

Almost everyone in the cryptocurrency space has tried to profit from Trump’s presidency: through business deals with his family or seeking regulatory easing from his administration. But few have been as bold as the supporters of PATRIOT.

Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency that serve little purpose beyond speculation, often built around viral jokes or celebrity images, with their value entirely dependent on how much network fans are willing to pay. The key to creating a Meme coin is generating enough online buzz to convince potential buyers that its price will keep rising.

Building a giant statue is an expensive form of social media hype, but it’s also a potential profit scheme. According to one organizer, investors funding the statue received a large amount of the token, which sometimes experiences sharp price surges. For months, supporters of “Don Colossus” have posted updates on the statue’s progress on X (formerly Twitter), forming alliances within the “Make America Great Again” camp, aiming for a marketing victory: to have the statue installed at Trump’s official properties.

By the end of 2024, the PATRIOT Meme coin was officially launched, coinciding with Trump’s promise to make the U.S. the “global cryptocurrency capital,” causing the token’s price to soar. During an event held in Washington during the President’s inauguration weekend, supporters presented a bronze mini statue to Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon and interacted with other conservatives.

However, repeated delays and internal disputes cast a shadow over the gold rush plan, revealing the turbulence in the Meme coin market: filled with scams, investors often end up losing everything. Last year, the price of PATRIOT plummeted nearly to zero. To rush the completion of the statue and boost the token, investors clashed with Ohio-based sculptor Alan Cottrill.

In text messages reviewed by The New York Times, Cottrill said investors still owed him $75,000 for intellectual property rights related to the statue.

“You’re using my copyrighted sculpture image to promote your token!” he wrote last month in a message to one of the token supporters.

“Yeah, haha, we planned to do that from day one,” replied Ashley Sansalone. Sansalone is a cryptocurrency developer involved in another token project called Elon GOAT.

The Elon Musk sculpture designed by Alan Cottrill

In a statement, Sansalone said that full payment would be made to Cottrill before the unveiling. “In any commercial agreement, a portion of the payment is withheld until the finished product is delivered,” he said.

But it’s still unclear when the sculpture will be officially displayed.

This Monday, after The New York Times inquired with the White House and Trump Organization about the PATRIOT token, President’s son Eric Trump posted a statement on X.

“We appreciate everyone’s support and enthusiasm,” he said, “but it’s important to clarify that we are not involved in any way with this token.”

Creating “Don Colossus”

The plan to create “Don Colossus” originated in a group chat on the messaging app Telegram. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts often use this platform to exchange investment tips and promote tokens. It was July 2024, shortly after Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, when he raised his fist with a determined expression.

Sansalone wanted to turn this rebellious image into the core symbol of a Meme coin. He collaborated with right-wing activist Dustin Stockton, and well-connected crypto investor Brock Pierce also joined, despite Pierce’s history of legal and financial disputes.

Shortly after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear, Sansalone contacted 73-year-old Cottrill, whose bronze Edison statue is displayed in the U.S. Capitol. Over the years, Cottrill has sculpted statues of a dozen U.S. Presidents, including 10-foot-high memorials of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Cottrill standing in a room filled with sculptures

These crypto investors hoped that Trump’s statue would be taller than previous works and requested some visual modifications.

“My initial sculpture was very realistic,” Cottrill said in an interview last month. “The crypto crowd asked me to trim some of the excess flesh around his neck and make him leaner.”

By the time Trump took office, Cottrill had completed the sculpture, which at that time was not gilded but was the tallest of all his works. In December last year, Trump reposted a report from Blabrat News about the project, which said Stockton was communicating with the presidential inauguration committee to plan a unveiling ceremony during inauguration weekend.

The timing of the repost was perfect: it was shortly after the PATRIOT token’s initial launch.

The official website states: “A cryptocurrency for the people, this statue is an indelible symbol.”

But the project soon faced two major setbacks. Cold weather in Washington caused logistical issues, forcing the postponement of the unveiling; and just before the inauguration, Trump launched his own Meme coin, TRUMP.

While crypto traders scrambled to buy the official token, Stockton and Pierce held an “Patriot Award” event at the National Press Club in Washington, distributing mini models of the statue on site.

“The atmosphere was suddenly cold because Trump’s token price skyrocketed,” Cottrill said.

By the end of January, ATRIOT’s price had fallen over 90%.

“A ‘Treasure Land’”

Despite these setbacks, the crypto investors continued their marketing push. In February last year, the infamous former Congressman George Santos showcased a mini Trump statue on Fox News, explicitly mentioning the PATRIOT token.

A small gilded Trump statue with a raised fist, surrounded by several dark-colored similar statues

Stockton reposted this video on X, claiming: “This kind of exposure is priceless!” In a brief phone interview, Santos said, “I took money to promote it, and I’ve always been straightforward about that.”

The investors also tried to recruit another influential ally: Burns. This well-known pastor is a close confidant of Trump and sometimes referred to as the President’s unofficial “spiritual advisor.”

After Pierce introduced him to the project team, Burns began participating in the statue work. He quickly became a key figure in pushing for the project’s restart, proposing gilding the bronze statue with gold leaf.

“The President just asked me for photos of the statue after it was gilded,” Burns wrote in a message to collaborators last November.

Trump’s wish was finally fulfilled. Sansalone told the team that he consulted a gold leaf supplier in New York that had previously decorated Trump Tower. Cottrill also shared the latest photos of the finished statue.

“It’s dazzling, exquisite,” Sansalone replied.

“Wow… I’ll send this to the President,” Burns wrote.

Clearly, Trump was moved by the statue. Last month, Cottrill traveled to Florida and installed the 7,000-pound base at Trump’s Doral golf resort. Stockton boasted on social media that it was a “treasure land.” In a January text message to collaborators, Burns said the White House schedule staff was “actively finalizing” the date for the President’s attendance at the official unveiling.

Trump National Doral Golf Course, Florida

This should have been Cottrill’s moment of glory, but he said he’s had enough of the crypto investors behind the scenes.

Cottrill said that until fall 2024, he discovered these investors were using his artwork’s image to promote a digital currency, which he believed infringed on his intellectual property rights.

In the end, he reached an agreement with the investors: they would pay him $150,000 for the sculpture’s copyright. But he claims he has yet to receive the remaining funds, and with other unpaid fees, they still owe him about $90,000.

Crypto investors demanded Trump’s statue be tall enough and requested some visual modifications

“In my opinion, they never bought the rights, and they’re using it illegally,” he said. “Unless all debts are settled, this statue will never leave my foundry.”

But the organizers of the project argued that they didn’t make much money from it.

Burns said he never asked for or received any compensation. Stockton, in an interview, said that PATRIOT is just a fundraising tool meant to “support the costs related to the statue.”

“I haven’t seen anyone get rich off this,” Stockton said.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization, Kimberly Benza, stated that the company only learned about the Meme coin after The New York Times inquired this week. She did not respond to questions about whether the statue unveiling would proceed as scheduled.

The farce did not stop the promotion on social media. An account associated with the token recently posted photos of the Doral statue’s base and pinned a detailed message on how to purchase the Meme coin.

“This dream is still alive,” Sansalone said during a live stream with Burns on January 16.

Besides the giant statue, the team also hopes to gift Trump a miniature gilded version of the statue. “We want to have a collectible in the Oval Office,” Sansalone said.