World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency venture backed by former U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, has initiated a community proposal to make its governance token tradable across the crypto ecosystem. As of Wednesday, July 9, 2025, a proposal to make the World Liberty Financial token (WLFI) tradable had received more than 99% support from users, with voting scheduled to end on July 16.
The proposal marks a significant step toward transitioning the protocol from closed governance to a more open, decentralized finance-oriented model. The move is part of the project's roadmap to transition to an "open participation" model, allowing the token to be traded on secondary markets, including decentralized exchanges and peer-to-peer networks. Currently, the WLFI token exists in a closed system and cannot be traded outside the platform, limiting the governance pool and price discovery.
If the proposal is approved, WLFI token holders will be able to vote on token emissions, ecosystem incentives, and treasury policy. The move will also finally test the token on the open market, where trader demand will set its value. The proposal outlines that if the vote succeeds, WLFI will facilitate token transferability, unlock part of the early supporter tokens, and initiate full community governance. This includes voting on future token unlocks and ecosystem rewards. Conversely, if the vote fails, the token will remain non-transferable, and WLFI will continue to operate as a closed network.
However, not all tokens will be unlocked immediately if the proposal passes. Only a portion of those sold to early investors will be made tradable. The remainder of the tokens will be subject to a second vote by the community to determine the unlock and release schedule, the proposal said. Tokens owned by the team, founders, and advisors will remain locked for an extended period to demonstrate their long-term commitment to the project. The proposal stated that “founders, team, and advisor tokens” — seemingly including those held by Trump and his family — would not be immediately available for trading.
The Trump family has been gradually reducing its stake in WLFI. In June 2025, the family decreased its stake by 20%, with DT Marks DeFi LLC, the entity managing the family's investment, initially holding a 75% stake. The family's LLC has been reducing its stake in the platform since December.
The president reported a $57 million profit from WLFI in a June financial disclosure with the US Office of Government Ethics. In total, Trump reportedly added $620 million to his net worth through his various crypto projects, including the Official Trump memecoin, non-fungible token (NFT) sales, an ownership stake in WLFI, and capital appreciation of other digital assets held in his portfolio.
WLFI and Trump's other crypto ventures have drawn scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom say his crypto ties present a conflict of interest. Sufficiently decentralizing WLFI could relieve some of the Congressional pressure holding up comprehensive regulatory reform. Democratic lawmakers have introduced the Curbing Officials' Income and Nondisclosure (COIN) Act.