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By Krisztian Sandor, AI Boost|Edited by Stephen Alpher
Jul 16, 2025, 7:33 p.m.
- World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token may soon begin trading after a governance vote passed overwhelmingly.
- The protocol, backed by Donald Trump and his family, raised $590 million through a token presale to early investors last year, with the tokens being locked-up since.
- The proposal set a phased unlock plan to release some presale tokens at launch, with further releases pending another community vote.
The governance token of World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, may soon become tradable on exchanges after a community vote concluded on Wednesday.
Token holders voted 99% in favor for the proposal to allow WLFI tokens to trade on secondary markets and transfer peer-to-peer, a Snapshot vote shows.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
The decision comes after the protocol raised around $590 million last year in a pre-sale where investors could buy WLFI tokens. For example, Tron founder Justin Sun also purchased $30 million of the asset. World Liberty Financial is developing a DeFi lending and borrowing platform, and also issues a U.S. dollar stablecoin named USD1.
The WLFI token was designed to give holders the right to participate in the protocol’s governance and decision-making. However, those tokens that were sold to early supporters have been locked-up since then, without the ability to sell, buy or transfer them.
The proposal that passed sets a phased token unlock plan. Some tokens that were sold during the presale will unlock at trading launch, while the rest await a second community vote to decide their release schedule. Tokens held by founders, the team and advisors will remain locked longer than early supporter allocations to underscore long-term commitment to the project, the proposal said.
Final unlock timing and eligibility criteria will be determined later, it added.
Read more: World Liberty Makes Narrative U-Turn, Says WLFI Token Will Become Tradable Soon
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Krisztian Sandor is a U.S. markets reporter focusing on stablecoins, tokenization, real-world assets. He graduated from New York University’s business and economic reporting program before joining CoinDesk. He holds BTC, SOL and ETH.
“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.
