A public dispute between Justin Sun, founder of Tron, and WLFI, a crypto project linked to the Trump family, has intensified after Sun vehemently criticized a new governance proposal. Sun described the proposal as 'one of the most absurd governance scams' he has encountered, alleging that it is designed to punish token holders who vote against it by locking their tokens indefinitely. He also claimed that he and other significant holders have been excluded from the voting process, with approximately 4% of the voting power under his control being frozen.
Sun questioned the legitimacy of the vote, suggesting that control over the protocol rests with anonymous wallet addresses, including a multisignature setup that can override outcomes and a separate account with the power to blacklist users. The proposal in question would overhaul token lockups across the WLFI ecosystem, subjecting over 62 billion WLFI tokens to new terms, including multi-year lockups and vesting schedules. Token holders who do not accept the new terms would remain locked indefinitely. Sun's criticism has been echoed by other figures in the crypto community, including Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, who described the move as an attempt to 'rugged' early investors.
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial defended the proposal, stating that it was designed to align participants in the WLFI ecosystem for the long term and ensure healthy market supply. The dispute marks the latest escalation in the feud between Sun and WLFI, which has been building for months. Earlier this week, WLFI threatened legal action against Sun, who had accused the project of exploiting users through DeFi transactions.
The tensions between Sun and WLFI have been ongoing since September, when WLFI blacklisted a blockchain address linked to Sun, and have intensified further after WLFI deposited its own tokens into a lending protocol and borrowed stablecoins, triggering a significant drop in token value.