Digital tokens from World Liberty Financial, a crypto project linked to Donald Trump’s family, will become tradeable after holders voted to approve the move.
The decision allows the tokens, called $WLFI, to be bought and sold on the open market, which could increase their value and benefit Trump’s holdings in the project.
The proposal to start trading was approved by nearly all participants, with 99.94% of around 20,900 votes in favour. World Liberty Financial launched the tokens last autumn as part of a decentralized finance platform, which also offers a stablecoin.
At launch, $WLFI tokens were not tradeable and gave holders voting rights over parts of the business, such as changes to its code.
Supporters of the vote said they expected price gains or backed Trump. A token holder from Milan said he bought 95,000 $WLFI tokens for about $5,000 and planned to hold them until they reached $12.
The project says the timing and conditions for trading will be set later. Tokens held by founders, team members, and advisers will not be available for immediate trading and will follow a longer unlock schedule.
Trump’s company, DT Marks DEFI LLC, was due to receive 22.5 billion out of 100 billion total tokens. A financial disclosure from last year showed Trump held 15.75 billion tokens.
Based on the terms of the sale and other available data, the Trump family has earned about $500 million from the project since it began.
The family receives 75% of revenues from token sales. The full extent of the family’s token holdings remains unclear.
The White House says Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and denies any conflict of interest. Details of the trust have not been made public, but Trump remains the sole beneficiary, meaning he could access the funds during or after his presidency.
World Liberty and other Trump-linked crypto ventures have drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers and ethics groups. They have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest as the administration works on crypto regulations.
A letter from two Democratic members of Congress earlier this year called the family’s stake in the company a possible conflict that could affect policy decisions.
A spokesperson for World Liberty said more information would be shared later and called the vote a step toward building a transparent financial system.
