A Critical Development on Donald Trump’s Altcoin WLFI: Anticipated Vote Ends

Investors in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), one of the cryptocurrency ventures owned by the Donald Trump family, have voted to open the tokens for trading.

This move, approved today, will now allow the platform’s tokens to be traded on exchanges, potentially significantly increasing the value of the Trump family’s holdings.

World Liberty, a “decentralized finance” (DeFi) initiative launched by the Trump family and their associates last fall, offered investors digital tokens called WLFI and a stablecoin. However, these tokens were initially non-tradable, with token holders only given the right to vote on changes such as the platform’s underlying code structure.

The biggest draw for investors was the direct connection to Trump’s name. This connection had fueled expectations that the tokens would appreciate in value over time. Now, the tokens’ ability to be traded on the open market could increase speculative interest and potentially earn trading fees for crypto exchanges where they are listed.

Once the tokens become available for trading, the value of the Trump family’s holdings could increase. While the exact amount of tokens held by the family has not been disclosed, Trump’s company, DT Marks DEFI LLC, was scheduled to receive 22.5 billion of the 100 billion tokens, according to the project’s launch documents. According to publicly released financial reports, President Trump held 15.75 billion WLFI tokens as of the end of 2024.

The Trump family has earned approximately $500 million to date through the World Liberty platform.

However, this development also raises ethical questions. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Maxine Waters wrote in a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the Trump family’s financial interests in World Liberty pose an “unprecedented conflict of interest.” The letter stated that these interests could influence the Trump administration’s regulatory stance toward the crypto sector.

The SEC has not yet classified WLFI tokens as securities, which exempts them from the same stringent regulatory oversight as stocks. The White House has maintained that all of Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and that there is no conflict of interest. However, details of the trust structure have not been made public. The trust’s sole beneficiary designation of President Trump means that hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions made during his term could be used personally at any time.

World Liberty published its proposal to open trading for WLFI tokens on its website on July 9. Of the approximately 20,900 votes cast, 99.94% voted “yes.” A World Liberty spokesperson told Reuters that details of how the tokens would be traded would be released soon.

*This is not investment advice.

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