Trump-backed WLFI moves to unlock 62 billion tokens after $75 million loan controversy
The project would burn 4.5 billion tokens while beginning to vest 40.7 billion tokens for founders and the team, restructuring locks that were originally set to be indefinite.
By Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Stephen AlpherUpdated Apr 15, 2026, 12:53 p.m. Published Apr 15, 2026, 12:36 p.m. Make preferred on
What to know:
- World Liberty Financial, a Trump family-backed crypto venture, has proposed unlocking 62.3 billion WLFI governance tokens that were previously locked without a vesting schedule.
- Under the plan, early supporters holding 17 billion WLFI would keep all their tokens, which would be subject to a two-year cliff followed by a two-year linear vesting period.
- Founders, team members, advisors and partners would see 10 percent of their 45.2 billion WLFI allocation burned while the remaining 40.7 billion tokens begin unlocking over five years after a two-year cliff.
The Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial has proposed unlocking 62.3 billion WLFI governance tokens on Tuesday, less than a week after CoinDesk reported the venture had used 5 billion of its own tokens as collateral on lending platform Dolomite to borrow $75 million in stablecoins.
WLFI's token was originally sold as a governance-only token with no transferability and indefinite locks. A vesting schedule with a defined path to liquidity changes the economic profile of what holders bought.
The proposal would open up liquidity for insiders who previously had no exit, changing the economics of the token.
The proposal splits the locked supply into two groups. Early supporters holding 17 billion WLFI would receive a 2-year cliff followed by a 2-year linear vest, retaining all tokens.
Founders, team members, advisors, and partners holding 45.2 billion WLFI would face a 2-year cliff and 3-year vest, but with 10% of their allocation, roughly 4.5 billion tokens, burned immediately on passage. (Burns refer to the permanent removal of tokens from supply, usually by sending to an address that is not controlled by anyone.)
In practice, it means insiders would surrender 4.5 billion tokens in exchange for beginning to unlock 40.7 billion that were previously locked indefinitely with no vesting schedule attached. Those tokens had no path to liquidity before this proposal.
WLFI included participation data from its six prior votes in the Wednesday post, showing that even the most engaged proposal - the vote to make the token tradeable - drew 11.1 billion WLFI in voting power.
The quorum for this proposal is 1 billion, with a simple majority required to pass. At those thresholds, the proposal could pass with a fraction of the founders and team allocation alone.
Holders who do not affirmatively accept the new vesting terms keep their tokens locked indefinitely and retain governance voting rights.
The timing comes on the back of events of the past week.
CoinDesk reported on April 9 that WLFI had deposited 5 billion of its own governance tokens into Dolomite, a lending protocol whose co-founder advises WLFI, and borrowed $75 million in stablecoins that were partially routed to Coinbase Prime.
The WLFI token dropped 12% to a record low the following day. Then, Tron founder Justin Sun, once the project's largest backer, publicly accused the team of treating users as "personal ATMs," prompting WLFI to threaten legal action.
The token was trading near $0.079 on Tuesday, down roughly 48% from the average price at which WLFI's own treasury conducted $65.6 million in open-market buybacks over the past six months.
Voting on the Wednesday proposal runs for a seven day period.
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