A public spat between Tron's Justin Sun and WLFI, a crypto project linked to Trump, escalated on Wednesday after Sun vehemently criticized a new governance proposal, labeling it as 'one of the most absurd governance scams' he has encountered. In a detailed post, Sun accused the project of devising a vote that penalizes dissenters, with token holders who vote against the proposal facing the risk of having their tokens locked indefinitely. He also alleged that he and other significant holders had been excluded from the process, claiming that tokens representing approximately 4% of the voting power under his control had been frozen.
Sun questioned the legitimacy of the vote, suggesting that control over the protocol lies with anonymous wallet addresses, including a multisignature setup that can override outcomes and a separate account with the power to blacklist users. 'This proposal is not about governance,' Sun stated. 'It's an exercise of power by a select few who are carefully orchestrating a further consolidation of power and expropriation of property.' The criticism revolves around WLFI's new proposal, which would overhaul 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 would face a two-year lockup followed by a three-year gradual release, alongside a 10% token burn upon opting in.
Early supporters would have slightly shorter vesting terms but no burn, with up to 4.5 billion tokens potentially being permanently destroyed. Holders who do not accept the new terms would remain locked indefinitely, per the proposal. Sun is not alone in his criticism; Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, described early investors as having been 'rugged' by the Trump family themselves, suggesting the move gives the project another chance to extract value from investors.
A World Liberty Financial spokesperson countered 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 for months.