World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance project backed by President Donald Trump and his sons, is facing fierce backlash from investors after publishing a governance proposal that would extend token lock-up periods for early participants by up to four years, or indefinitely for those who reject the terms.
The proposal, posted to the platform’s governance forum on April 15, outlines a restructured vesting schedule for 62.28 billion WLFI tokens, representing the majority of the project’s roughly 100 billion total supply.
Under the plan, early supporters holding 17 billion tokens would face a two-year cliff followed by a two-year linear vest. Founders, advisors, and team members holding 45.2 billion tokens would see 10% of their allocation, up to 4.52 billion tokens, burned upon passage, with the remainder unlocking over five years after a two-year cliff.
Dissenting Holders Face an Indefinite Lock-up Under WLFI’s New Terms
The most contentious element of the proposal is its treatment of non-participants. According to the governance document, holders who do not affirmatively accept the new vesting schedule will “continue to have their tokens locked indefinitely.” A formal vote is expected to follow a seven-day discussion period, requiring a quorum of just 1 billion WLFI tokens and a simple majority to pass.
Tron founder and major WLFI investor Justin Sun responded with pointed criticism, calling the proposal “one of the most absurd governance scams I have ever seen” in a post on X. Sun, who holds roughly 4% of the voting power, alleged that his tokens have been frozen, effectively preventing him from participating in the vote.
“The design of this proposal is a logical trap: anyone who votes against it has their tokens locked indefinitely with no unlock path whatsoever,” Sun wrote. He characterized the structure as “coercion” rather than genuine governance, arguing that it rewards agreement while penalizing dissent.
WLFI Defends Proposal Amid Growing Scrutiny
World Liberty Financial spokesman David Wachsman defended the measure, telling Reuters that the proposal “was designed to further align all the participants in the WLFI ecosystem for the long run.” The platform has dismissed Sun’s allegations as “baseless” and has reportedly threatened legal action.
The timing of the proposal has drawn additional scrutiny. It arrives less than a week after CoinDesk reported that WLFI had deposited 5 billion of its own governance tokens as collateral on the lending protocol. Dolomite borrowed $75 million in stablecoins, a move that pushed the platform’s lending pool to near-full utilization and reportedly trapped other depositors.
Critics have noted that the proposed vesting timeline means early investors would not be able to fully trade their tokens until 2030, a year after Trump is scheduled to leave office. DeFi commentator Ignas remarked that “early investors will get tokens unlocked when the Trump cartel is out of office, and WLFI is down by 99%.”
Others have described the proposal as a “generational crime moment,” with some hinting at potential class action lawsuits. At the time of writing, WLFI was trading at approximately $0.08, consolidating near all-time lows.
