A public confrontation between Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, and a cryptocurrency initiative associated with Trump intensified on Wednesday. Sun vehemently criticized a recent governance proposal, labeling it “one of the most ridiculous governance scams” he has encountered.
In an extensive message posted on X, Sun accused the project of crafting a voting system that penalizes dissenters. He warned that token holders who oppose the proposal risk having their tokens locked away indefinitely.
Furthermore, he asserted that both he and other significant stakeholders had been sidelined from this process. He alleged that tokens representing approximately 4% of his voting power had been frozen.
Sun raised broader concerns about the legitimacy of this vote, claiming that control over the protocol is held by anonymous wallet addresses. This includes a multisignature arrangement capable of overriding results and another account with authority to blacklist users.
“This proposal does not represent true governance,” Sun stated in his post. “It reflects an exercise in power by a select few who are meticulously orchestrating further consolidation of power and appropriation.”
$WLFI Proposal
The criticism revolves around $WLFI‘s latest initiative aimed at revamping token lockup policies throughout its ecosystem. Over 62 billion $WLFI tokens would be subjected to new regulations involving multi-year lockups and vesting schedules.
The proposed plan stipulates that tokens owned by insiders—such as team members, advisors, and partners—would undergo a two-year lockup followed by three years for gradual release along with a 10% token burn for those opting in. Early supporters would experience slightly shorter vesting periods without any burn penalty; ultimately up to 4.5 billion tokens could be permanently eliminated.
If holders choose not to accept these new terms, they would remain locked indefinitely according to the proposal’s stipulations.
Sun was not alone in voicing opposition; Simon Dedic from Moonrock Capital remarked that early investors felt effectively “rugged.”
“All early investors in $WLFI, who believed they were enjoying solid profits have just been taken advantage of—by none other than the Trump family,” Dedic expressed on X while suggesting this move seemed designed for extracting additional value from investors’ pockets. He also condemned what he termed “blatant misconduct,” which appeared poorly concealed.
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial informed CoinDesk that their proposal was intended to better align all participants within the $WLFI ecosystem over time while ensuring healthy market supply through optimal long-term participation strategies.
Escalating Conflict
This backlash represents yet another chapter in deteriorating relations between Sun and this project.
Earlier this week,
$WLFI
threatened legal action after claiming it possessed contracts and evidence following accusations from Sun regarding user exploitation via DeFi transactions.
The conflict has been brewing for several months now.
In September,
$ WL FI blacklisted
a blockchain address linked directly to sun holding roughly $107 million worth at one point.
This marks an abrupt turnaround since late 2024 when sun was instrumental as backer investing $30 million into
$ WL FI
tokens while taking up advisory roles supporting projects.
Tensions heightened after
$ WL FI
deposited five billion own coins into lending protocol Dolomite where one advisor co-founded borrowing around seventy-five million stablecoins resulting drop twelve percent record low next day prompting sun publicly accuse treating users personal ATMs triggering latest legal threats.