Investors in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), one of the cryptocurrency projects owned by the Trump family, have voted to open token trading. This move, approved today, will allow the platform's token to be traded on exchanges, potentially significantly increasing the value of the assets held by the Trump family.
World Liberty, a "decentralized finance" (DeFi) initiative launched by the Trump family and associates last fall, has offered investors digital tokens named WLFI and a stablecoin. However, initially, these tokens could not be traded, and token holders only had the right to vote on changes, such as the underlying code structure of the platform.
The biggest draw for investors is the direct connection to Trump's name. This connection has fueled expectations that the tokens will increase in value over time. Now, the ability to trade tokens on the open market could increase speculative interest and potentially generate trading fees for the cryptocurrency exchanges where they are listed.
When tokens can be traded, the Trump family's asset value may rise. Although the exact number of tokens the family holds has not been disclosed, according to the project's launch documents, Trump's company DT Marks DEFI LLC is expected to receive 22.5 billion of the 100 billion tokens. According to widely published financial reports, as of the end of 2024, President Trump is expected to hold 15.75 billion WLFI tokens.
So far, the Trump family has earned about $500 million through the World Liberty platform.
However, this development also raises ethical questions. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Maxine Waters wrote in a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the Trump family's financial interests in World Liberty pose an "unprecedented conflict of interest." The letter states that these interests could influence the Trump administration's regulatory stance on the cryptocurrency sector.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to classify the WLFI token as a security, which exempts them from strict oversight by regulators like stocks. The White House asserts that all of Trump's assets are held in a trust managed by his children, with no conflict of interest.
However, details about the trust structure have yet to be disclosed. President Trump's designation of a single beneficiary of this trust means that hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions made during his term could be used for personal purposes at any time.
World Liberty has announced its proposal to open trading of the WLFI token on its website on July 9. Of approximately 20,900 votes, 99.94% voted "yes." A spokesperson for World Liberty told Reuters that details on how to trade the token will be announced soon.