U.S. President Donald Trump’s family-backed DeFi project, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), is preparing for its first significant token unlock on September 1. The move comes just as perpetual futures for its WLFI token began trading on top exchanges, implying a market valuation of more than $40 billion.
Early Investor Unlocks and Market Debut
According to the project, early investors will receive access to 20% of their tokens purchased during two initial funding rounds. Those rounds were priced at $0.015 and $0.05 per token. The remaining 80% of investor allocations will remain locked until a future governance vote determines their release.
Overall, the September unlock will account for about 5% of the token’s total supply, while allocations for founders, advisors, and team members will stay locked.
To activate their holdings, investors will be required to use an on-chain “Lockbox” system beginning August 25. The project said most users are already approved to connect immediately, with only a few failing compliance checks.
Momentum has been building for World Liberty Financial in recent months. In July, WLFI token holders voted unanimously to make the Ethereum-based token tradable. Alongside its USD1 stablecoin push, the project is preparing a loyalty scheme for users and weighing a potential Coinbase listing.
The anticipation was reflected in the debut of perpetual futures tied to WLFI. On Saturday, Binance, Bybit, and OKX all listed contracts for the token, with prices hovering between $0.40 and $0.42 in early trading. Based on the project’s 100 billion total token supply, that translates to a fully diluted valuation of more than $40 billion.
If spot trading mirrors those levels after the unlock, the Trump family’s stake in the project would carry extraordinary value. Trump’s holding company, DT Marks DEFI LLC, controls 22.5 billion tokens, equivalent to more than $9 billion at current prices. The President personally holds 15.75 billion tokens, worth over $6 billion, more than doubling the net worth Forbes currently assigns him.
The project has not been without controversy. Trump’s large stake has drawn criticism from political opponents who warn of conflicts of interest. Democrats pushed for stricter guardrails in the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin legislation signed into law by Trump in July, but most of those proposals were left out of the final bill.
Also Read: Trump’s World Liberty Scoops Up $5M in Ethereum at $4,670
