A heated public disagreement between Justin Sun, founder of Tron, and WLFI, a cryptocurrency project linked to Trump, intensified on Wednesday as Sun vehemently criticized a newly introduced governance proposal. Sun described the proposal as 'one of the most absurd governance scams' he has encountered. In a detailed post, Sun accused WLFI of designing a voting system that penalizes token holders who vote against the proposal, potentially resulting in their tokens being locked indefinitely.
He also alleged that he and other significant holders had been barred from participating in the process, claiming that tokens representing approximately 4% of the voting power under his control had been frozen. Furthermore, Sun questioned the legitimacy of the vote, suggesting that control over the protocol rests with anonymous wallet addresses, including a multisignature setup capable of overriding outcomes and a separate account with the authority to blacklist users. Sun stated, 'This proposal is not governance, it is an exercise of power by a select few who are carefully orchestrating a further power consolidation and property expropriation operation.' The criticism revolves around WLFI's new proposal, which would reform token lockups across the ecosystem, affecting over 62 billion WLFI tokens with new terms, including multi-year lockups and vesting schedules.
Under the plan, tokens held by insiders, such as team members, advisors, and partners, would be subject to a two-year lockup followed by a three-year gradual release, alongside a 10% token burn upon opting in. Early supporters would face slightly shorter vesting terms but no burn, with up to 4.5 billion tokens potentially being permanently destroyed. Token holders who do not accept the new terms would remain locked indefinitely, as per the proposal.
Sun was not alone in his criticism; Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, expressed that early investors had been 'rugged' by the move. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial stated that the proposal was designed to 'further align all participants in the WLFI ecosystem for the long-run,' aiming to 'optimally ensure long-term participation in our ecosystem and help ensure a healthy market supply.' The backlash marks the latest episode in the deteriorating relationship between Sun and the project, which has been escalating over the past months.