Investors who poured $550 million into WLFI, the token tied to the Trump family's World Liberty Financial crypto project, are now pleading to sell their holdings as the token's value evaporates and they find themselves unable to access their funds. The token, which soared from a purchase price of $0.015–$0.05 to an all-time high of $0.33 when it began trading in September 2025, has since crashed approximately 54% over the past five months.
The core issue lies in the project's structure: the creators, including US President Donald Trump and his sons Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron, retain sole discretion over who can sell tokens and when. While the project initially released only 20% of the tokens and promised a holder vote on unlocking the remaining 80%, that vote has not materialized, leaving investors trapped.
On the project's forums, dozens of token holders are begging the protocol's creators to allow them to cash out. "They are my investments and I want to have access to them," said one investor. "We have become hostages." These pleas have been ignored.
Compounding the problem, World Liberty's creators pushed through a proposal to distribute more WLFI as user incentives, potentially increasing sell-side pressure on the token's price. The project's governance model, detailed in its "gold paper," grants co-founders ultimate control. They screen all proposals before voting and can block them at their discretion. The tokens confer no rights to returns, dividends, or guarantees that the locked 80% will ever become tradable.
Even high-profile backers have been affected. Tron founder Justin Sun, who invested $75 million in the token sale, had approximately $9 million worth of his tokens frozen by the creators when he attempted to transfer them to another wallet in September. Sun's tokens remain frozen and have significantly declined in value.
World Liberty Financial's most successful product is its USD1 stablecoin, which has over $5 billion in circulation, making it the fifth-largest stablecoin. However, according to the project's documentation, 100% of the protocol's profits—including revenue from USD1—flow to the Trump family and the Witkoff family (co-founders Steve, Zach, and Alex Witkoff), after deducting $15 million for operating expenses.
The situation is now attracting political scrutiny, complicating the passage of the broader crypto market-structure bill, the Clarity Act. Democrats, led by Senator Cory Booker, cite Trump's personal crypto profiteering as a major obstacle. "The fact that Donald Trump is grifting on crypto himself, it's like me creating a Cory coin," Booker stated, calling it "ridiculous."
Amid the controversy, World Liberty has announced an invite-only forum at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club on February 18, 2026, to bring together "the smartest people we know and respect from finance and technology," according to Donald Trump Jr.
