On the lawn of the Trump National Golf Club in Doral, Florida, a 7,000-pound concrete and stainless steel base stands quietly, awaiting a bronze-gilded giant statue towering two stories high—this is the statue of President Trump known as 'Don Colossus.' It stands 15 feet tall, cast entirely in bronze and covered with a thick layer of gold leaf, shining brilliantly in the sunlight. This $300,000 statue is not only a tribute to Trump but also the centerpiece of a wild gold-digging scheme in the world of cryptocurrency.
For over a year, the "Don Colossus" has remained one of the most bizarre business adventures of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors spent money to create the statue, originally intending to pay tribute to Trump, who openly supports cryptocurrency, but more importantly, to promote a Meme coin called PATRIOT with this giant statue. Meme coins are inherently speculative products reliant on online popularity and celebrity images, their value entirely dependent on fan support, and creating a gilded giant is undoubtedly the most eye-catching social media marketing tactic, with investors firmly believing this could skyrocket the token price.
The birth of this plan originated from an attempted assassination event in July 2024. After Trump was attacked in Butler, Pennsylvania, the image of him defiantly raising his fist caught the attention of cryptocurrency developer Ashley Sansalone, who, along with right-wing activist Dustin Stockton and investor Brock Pierce, who was embroiled in legal disputes, decided to turn this "symbol of resistance" into the core image of the Meme coin. They approached 73-year-old sculptor Alan Cottrill—an artist who had created the Edison statue for the U.S. Capitol and memorials for over a dozen presidents—to take on this special commission.
Cottrill's initial creation aimed for realism, but was altered at the request of cryptocurrency investors: "Remove the excess flesh from the neck and slim down the body." In the end, he completed the tallest bronze statue of his career, which, at the time, was not yet gilded but already grand in stature. By the end of 2024, the PATRIOT coin officially launched, coinciding with Trump's promise to make the U.S. the "global cryptocurrency capital," leading to a surge in token prices. During the inauguration weekend, supporters presented a mini statue to Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon in Washington, rallying conservatives, and everything seemed to be progressing as expected.
However, beneath the madness, dark currents were already stirring. The cold weather in Washington disrupted the statue's unveiling plans, and the official Meme coin TRUMP launched by Trump directly diverted market enthusiasm, causing the price of PATRIOT to plummet over 90%, nearly to zero. More troublesome was the intellectual property dispute that erupted between investors and Cottrill: the sculptor claimed that the other party still owed $75,000 in copyright fees, angrily accusing them of using the statue's image to market the token without permission, while Sansalone bluntly stated, "We planned to do this from day one," and although he promised to settle payments before the unveiling, it cast a shadow over the project.
A turning point came with the involvement of Trump's friend Mark Burns. The pastor, known as the president's "spiritual advisor," became key to restarting the project; he proposed gilding the statue and showed Trump the gilded prototype, which received the president's high praise: "This statue looks fantastic." Sansalone immediately contacted the gold leaf supplier who had decorated Trump Tower, and after Cottrill completed the gilding process, the statue became even more dazzling.
In January 2026, Cottrill traveled to Florida and completed the installation of the base at Trump's golf resort, with Stockton calling it "a treasure site," and Burns revealing that the White House was actively finalizing the date for Trump's attendance at the unveiling ceremony. Just as the project seemed poised to launch, the Trump family suddenly distanced themselves: after inquiries from The New York Times, Eric Trump stated on social media that the family was not involved in matters related to the PATRIOT coin, adding further uncertainty to this gilded farce.
Today, the "Don Colossus" has yet to make its official debut; it is both a microcosm of the speculative frenzy in the cryptocurrency world and a peculiar footnote on the intertwining of business and politics during the Trump era. From the symbolic moment of the attack to the creation of the gilded statue, and then to the token's crash, copyright disputes, and family cuts, this 15-foot giant statue has witnessed the turbulence and madness of the Meme coin market, also revealing how, driven by interests, the boundaries between tribute and speculation have become increasingly blurred. Whether it can eventually stand under the Florida sun, and what kind of attention it will receive during the G20 summit, remains an unknown.