World Liberty Financial, or WLFI, a DeFi project backed by the Trump family, has published a new governance proposal that would place 62,282,252,205 tokens under revised lockup and burn terms. The team described the plan as a major long-term alignment signal for DeFi, but the response on X quickly turned hostile, with users accusing the project of unfairly pressuring early holders.
More than 62 billion tokens included in the plan
The proposal separates the affected allocation into two groups. The first covers tokens held by the team, advisers, institutions, and founders, totaling about 45.23 billion. If those holders opt in, they would have to burn 10% of their allocation, with up to roughly 4.523 billion WLFI permanently destroyed. The remaining tokens would then follow a 2-year cliff plus 3 years of linear unlocks.
The second group covers early supporters, who hold around 17.04 billion tokens. Their allocation would not be burned, but it would move to a 2-year cliff plus 2 years of linear unlocks. On paper, the team is accepting the harsher schedule. The backlash came from what early investors say is the lack of a real alternative.
Indefinite lockup clause sparks the sharpest criticism
Under the proposal, early supporters who do not opt in would see their tokens remain locked under the original terms indefinitely. For holders who have already spent a year in lockup, that creates a stark choice: accept a longer path to liquidity, or remain unable to access the tokens at all.
That clause drove much of the anger in community replies. Users described the proposal as coercive rather than voluntary. Some tagged Eric Trump and threatened class-action litigation over what they see as a unilateral change in token terms. Others linked the dispute to losses tied to Trump-branded crypto exposure and argued that the project is shifting the burden onto early retail participants.
Some traders see a supply-side benefit
Not every response was negative. A smaller group of traders and analysts argued that a 10% team burn combined with a release schedule stretching as long as five years is unusual in crypto and could materially reduce future sell pressure. From that view, the proposal changes WLFI’s token supply profile in a way that may support the market over time.
At the same time, some community members raised separate concerns about whether locked tokens may already have been used for lending or collateral activity during the past year. The governance proposal remains under intense debate, and the dispute has turned into a broader reputational problem for both WLFI and the Trump family figures associated with the project.