Trump’s World Liberty Financial Eyes Phased Unlock for Early Buyers

Key Insights

• Trump’s World Liberty Finance plans to release a proposal that will unlock tokens for early adopters.
• The project has been under fire due to DeFi lending transactions using its WLFI as collateral, even as the token is down almost 50% in 2026.
• It claims that the lending is part of its role as an anchor borrower on WLFI Markets and is in users’ best interests.

World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project backed by the Trump family, is considering a phased unlock of its WLFI token for early buyers. The project announced this on X, noting that a governance proposal to unlock locked tokens will be posted next week for community input.

The announcement stated that the move is designed to prioritize the early adopters of the project. It comes at a time when World Liberty is facing scrutiny on several of its moves.

World Liberty Faces Criticisms Over DeFi Transactions

According to the project, the planned proposal will not be for full token unlock. Instead, it will be to determine the unlock schedule and long-term vesting for early retail buyers, with a focus on long-term health.

While a phased unlock represents a positive development for millions of retail users who bought WLFI early, the reaction has been mostly negative. Users are calling for full transparency after it emerged that the project has been borrowing stablecoins using WLFI tokens as collateral.

World Liberty has come under fire after reports emerged that it pledged 5 billion WLFI tokens as collateral on lending protocol Dolomite. The project used it to borrow $75 million in stablecoins, including 65.4 million USD1 and 10.3 million USDC. It has already repaid $15 million of the loan while sending over $40 million to Coinbase Prime.

WLFI Token Performance. Source: CoinMarketCap

Interestingly, the project did not disclose these transactions until onchain data identified them, involving around 3 billion WLFI tokens, even though they were routed through an intermediary wallet. Since the news broke, WLFI has fallen by more than 10%, taking its decline this year to over 43%.

WLFI Clarifies Lending Position

Meanwhile, the project has debunked claims that it was borrowing against its users. According to an announcement, this is an FUD that does not reflect the true situation.

The project claimed to be one of the largest suppliers and borrowers on the WLFI Markets. This explains why it has been supplying WLFI as collateral and borrowing stablecoin.

It said:

“Yes, we supplied WLFI as collateral and borrowed stablecoins. No, we are nowhere near liquidation — and frankly, even if markets moved dramatically against us, we’d simply supply more collateral. That’s not a risk. That’s how this works.”

The statement added that serving as an anchor borrower has allowed WLFI to generate yield for users on WLFI Markets. It claimed that users are earning massive yields on stablecoins on the platform.

Interestingly, WLFI added that it has bought back over 435 million WLFI tokens from the open market over the last six months, spending  $65.58 million. It noted that this further highlights its confidence in the token and long-term potential.

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