The Trump family’s World Liberty Financial project raises questions about its actual usefulness and true ambitions. Could it simply be a huge machine for extracting value for its executives, at the expense of WLFI holders?
World Liberty Financial: a machine for extracting value for its executives?
The World Liberty Financial project was launched in September 2024 by the Trump family, while the current US president was still campaigning. A protocol embedded in decentralized finance (DeFi), its actual usefulness quickly proved difficult to determine, at least much more so than its obvious desire to sell its native WLFI tokens on a massive scale.
The initial sale struggled to find investors at first, but ultimately met with significant success during Donald Trump’s official inauguration at the White House in January 2025, alongside the surreal launch of the presidential memecoins TRUMP and MELANIA.
Since its launch, the WLFI price has been trying to stay around $0.15, while posting a decline of almost 30% over this period. At the same time, the vast majority of its holders “are facing a block and have not had access to their tokens since the TGE (token generation event), with no ability to vote for an unlock until the team authorizes it.”
This reality was once again highlighted by the DeFi specialist trader, responding under the pseudonym DeFi^2 on the X network, in a post in which he wishes to “draw attention to a worrying governance vote organized by World Liberty Financial this month, which seems to mark the beginning of a gradual extraction of value led by the team to the detriment of WLFI holders.”
The leaders (of World Liberty Financial) have submitted a USD1 growth proposal, which at first glance seems rather innocuous. But it raises a question: why would they do everything in their power to push through this vote, instead of supporting the unlocking of the WLFI token demanded by the majority of its holders?
DeFi^2
“It is becoming difficult to perceive the intrinsic value of the WLFI token.”
Because one thing must be acknowledged: the World Liberty Financial project has at least one effective use: supporting the development of its USD1 stablecoin. This activity takes full advantage of the partnerships and political alliances established by Donald Trump, as in the recent case of its strategic adoption by Pakistan.
This motivation is all the more important given that “75% of the protocol’s revenue goes to the Trump family and 25% to the Witkoff family,” while “WLFI holders are not entitled to ANY revenue from the protocol.” This is enough to push World Liberty Financial executives and their partners to force the adoption of this proposal in connection with the USD1 stablecoin, against the initial opposition expressed by its community.
The logic seems relentless: “leaders are forcing a vote to sell WLFI tokens at the expense of locked token holders in order to finance the protocol’s revenues that directly benefit them.” And the final word goes to DeFi^2:
It is becoming difficult to perceive the intrinsic value of the WLFI token, valued at $17 billion, when it carries no real governance power, no revenue sharing, and is under selling pressure from the foundation for its own benefit.
DeFi^2
