Trump-Linked WLFI Proposes Buyback-and-Burn Program Amid Early Losses
2 September 2025

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi project affiliated with the Trump family, is seeking to bolster investor confidence following a rocky trading debut by introducing a buyback-and-burn program funded entirely by protocol-owned liquidity fees.

The initiative comes as WLFI faces steep market headwinds after listing on major exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Upbit, Coinbase, and Bithumb. The token is currently trading around $0.23, down 24% in a single day, with a market capitalization near $6.39 billion, according to CoinGecko. At launch, WLFI briefly reached implied valuations above $40 billion on futures markets before a sharp sell-off.

Under the governance proposal released Tuesday, fees collected from WLFI’s liquidity pools on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Solana would be used to buy WLFI on the open market and send the tokens to a burn address, permanently reducing supply. The program is designed to target tokens held by participants less committed to the project’s long-term growth. Only protocol-owned liquidity fees are affected; third-party or community liquidity providers remain untouched.

Alternative proposals, such as splitting fees between treasury and burns, were considered but rejected in favor of allocating 100% to token burns. The goal, according to WLFI’s team, is to transform the narrative from oversupply to engineered scarcity: more trading generates higher fees, which in turn leads to more tokens being removed from circulation.

Meanwhile, a separate community-led governance proposal is circulating, suggesting that 80% of WLFI tokens remain locked and automatically staked, with rewards drawn from the remaining 20%. Proponents say it would reduce selling pressure and activate idle supply, while critics view it as redistribution rather than genuine yield creation. This proposal has not yet gained traction relative to the official burn plan.

Despite early criticism and market headwinds, WLFI retains high-profile support. Tron founder Justin Sun continues to endorse the project on X, describing it as “one of the biggest and most important projects in crypto” and pledging not to sell his unlocked tokens. Arkham data shows WLFI’s treasury holds $13.78 million in TRX, while Sun personally holds around $693 million in WLFI tokens, largely vested to reinforce his long-term stake.