In brief
- The Trump-backed crypto project World Liberty Financial was previously only open to accredited investors.
- But after a Wednesday vote to enable trading, users should soon be able to get their hands on WLFI.
- The project is a decentralized finance platform that plans to offer crypto borrowing and lending.
It was launched as an exclusive cryptocurrency, only for those with deep pockets. But after a vote, now the average Joe will soon be able to buy President Trump-backed WLFI from exchanges.
The native token of World Liberty Financial will soon be available for trading to “begin the next phase of community ownership and engagement,” according to its website.
WLFI is World Liberty’s native governance token. In the crypto space, holders of a governance token can vote to make changes to how the project is run—but these tokens also have a value and can be traded and sold via exchanges.
“This would mark a major milestone in the development of the World Liberty Financial ecosystem and opens the door for broader community participation, access, and protocol development,” the token’s website read.
No details were revealed on where users would be able to buy the token but the website noted: “With strong demand from community members and partners, many community members have said that the timing is right to make WLFI tradable and initiate this next chapter in our collective journey.”
The Ethereum-based project’s tokens were initially only available to accredited investors. A portion of these tokens will now be unlocked for sale, the website added, with others set to be subject to longer unlock schedules.
Decrypt reached out to World Liberty Financial, but did not immediately receive a response.
World Liberty Financial is a decentralized finance—or DeFi—project that was first teased by President Trump’s son, Eric, last year. It is led by DeFi builders Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, along with the Trump family and Witkoff family.
It’s billed as a platform for crypto lending and borrowing services, though it has yet to launch. Details on the project’s rollout are so far vague, but those behind it have sung the praises of the DeFi space.
DeFi is a subsphere of the crypto industry that wants to replace traditional financial services like banks by using blockchain to power autonomous apps without middlemen. It is an extremely risky and novel world prone to hacks and major investor losses.
Lawmakers—particularly Democrats—have raised concerns about President Trump’s conflicts of interest with the project, especially as the Trump family has made millions from token sales.
President Trump recently disclosed a $57.3 million windfall from the project’s token sale.
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