World Liberty Financial Faces a Catch-22: Investors Must Lock Their Only Exit to Keep Their Voice

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is pushing a governance proposal that would strip voting rights from unlocked tokens unless holders agree to lock them up for at least 180 days.

The same tokens represent investors’ only liquid assets.

World Liberty Financial’s Governance Bind

The vote opened March 5 and closes March 13, only four days out. As of the weekend, over 99% of participating token holders voted in favor. However, only around 1% of the roughly 100 billion total supply had cast a vote.

WLFI raised more than $550 million across token sales held between October 2024 and March 2025. Early investors paid between $0.05 and $0.15 per token.

Today, the token trades near $0.099, down more than 50% since a portion became tradable.

Up to 80% of outside investor holdings remain locked with no disclosed release timeline. The proposal targets the remaining 20% that can be freely traded.

Under the plan, those unlocked tokens lose their governance rights unless holders stake them for at least 180 days in exchange for a 2% annual yield. These are payable in WLFI tokens, at a rate the team can adjust.

The governance decisions that those votes would influence include when the locked 80% gets released.

“Not giving a timeline for unlocks on a project is unusual; these numbers are often defined upfront during the token launch. This is one of the most important places to have transparency,” a TradFi media reported, citing Lex Sokolin, managing partner at Generative Ventures.

Investors Divided, Whales Advantaged

Token holder Morten Christensen, who runs AirdropAlert.com, said he planned to vote against the proposal.

“With WLFI, the investors went in blind,” commented Morten Christensen.

Christensen also argued that staking tends to suppress token value. Participants often buy to stake while simultaneously shorting an equivalent position, creating consistent sell pressure.

The proposal includes a provision granting holders who stake at least 50 million WLFI direct access to the project team for partnership discussions.

Critics say this creates a two-tier structure that favors large holders over smaller investors.

Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs, which bought $25 million in WLFI tokens last year, confirmed the firm has no plans to increase its position until tokens become liquid.

“We are still holders of WLFI coins, but these coins are locked, and until they are liquid, we have no plans to invest more,” Bloomberg reported, citing Grachev.

The project team defended the proposal on March 5. In their opinion, governance decisions should reflect participants aligned with the ecosystem’s long-term direction, not short-term traders.

What Supporters Say

Not all observers view the situation negatively. Some supporters argue WLFI is building substantial infrastructure behind the public debate.

Proponents point to reported plans for a U.S. national bank charter application, cross-chain infrastructure for institutional access, and a live lending market where users can already supply and borrow assets.

Notwithstanding, the governance vote could either resolve investor concerns or deepen them, depending on what follows.

Specifically, whether the team publishes an unlock schedule before the March 12 deadline.