World Liberty Financial (WLFI) has posted a new governance proposal that would place about 62.28 billion locked tokens under fresh vesting terms and burn up to 4.52 billion tokens from insider-linked allocations.
The plan, published on Wednesday, would apply new lock schedules to early supporters as well as founders, team members, advisors, and partners.
The proposal sets out different terms for each group. Early supporters would move to a two-year cliff followed by a two-year linear vest, while founders, team members, advisors, and partners would face a two-year cliff followed by a three-year linear vest if they opt in.
WLFI said holders who do not accept the new terms would remain locked indefinitely under the current structure.
Meanwhile, the plan marks a new stage in the project’s token unlock process after days of debate around liquidity access, governance control, and wallet concentration. It also comes as the Trump-linked DeFi platform faces fresh attention over its treasury activity and token structure.
“We’ve just posted a governance proposal to the forum for community discussion, and we believe it represents one of the strongest long-term governance alignment signals in DeFi,” WLFI wrote in a thread on X.
The project said the proposal is designed to give the community a clearer path on locked supply and voting participation.
Proposal covers 62.28 billion locked WLFI
WLFI said the proposal covers 17.04 billion locked tokens held by early supporters and 45.24 billion locked tokens tied to founders, team members, advisors, and partners.
Together, those allocations total 62.28 billion WLFI, all of which would fall under the new framework if the measure passes.
Under the early supporter plan, tokens would remain locked for two years and then vest linearly over the following two years. This group would keep its full allocation and would not face any burn.
The project added that early supporters who do not affirmatively accept the new schedule would remain locked indefinitely.
The founder, team, advisor, and partner group would face tougher terms. If these holders opt in, 10 percent of their locked allocation, or up to 4.52 billion WLFI, would be burned immediately upon passage of the proposal.
The remaining 90 percent would then move into a two-year cliff followed by a three-year linear vest. Additionally, WLFI described these terms as the least favorable in the proposal.
“Every advisor, institution, partner, founder, and team member locked token — all 45,238,585,647 WLFI — is assigned to a two-year cliff with a three-year linear vest upon opting in, and subject to a 10 percent burn upon doing so,” the project noted.
It added that tokens that do not opt in would not be burned but would stay locked indefinitely.
Long lockups aim to address governance concerns
WLFI framed the proposal as a way to tighten long-term governance alignment and reduce uncertainty around future supply.
The project noted that locked holders have not all taken part in governance so far, even though the token has been live as a governance tool since launch. It argued that the protocol should have a clearer view of which holders plan to stay active.
According to the proposal, governance participation across six past votes ranged from 2.7 billion to 11.1 billion WLFI. Even the strongest turnout represented only about 23 percent of the locked supply covered by the new plan.
The project said the remaining 77 pecent had never voted on any proposal to date, leaving an open question over how much dormant voting power could later enter the process.
The proposal creates a time-bound choice. Holders can accept the new vesting schedule and move into a clear unlock path, or they can reject it and stay locked under existing terms.
Moreover, the project said this structure may help define future governance participation more clearly while avoiding an immediate release of a large token supply. The plan also places the project’s internal holders under stricter terms than early supporters.
“This is the least favorable unlock terms in this proposal and is subject to a mandatory burn upon opt-in,” WLFI said of the founder, team, advisor, and partner allocation.
It added that the burn would serve as a public onchain signal from insiders who choose to accept the schedule.
Proposal follows backlash over liquidity and control
The timing of the proposal matters because WLFI has faced growing criticism from some holders in recent days.
On April 10, the project said it would introduce a new governance proposal after some early buyers raised concerns over delayed liquidity access and threatened legal action. That pressure put fresh attention on how and when locked tokens may enter circulation.
More criticism followed around the platform’s governance structure. Tron founder Justin Sun, who earlier invested $30 million in WLFI, questioned the project’s transparency earlier this week.
He alleged that past governance votes were dominated by a small number of wallets and lacked broad participation. WLFI later threatened legal action against Sun.
Sun also called on the project to disclose who controls key wallets linked to its smart contracts. He warned that the current setup could allow broad control over the token, including the ability to freeze funds.
At the same time, the proposal arrives after renewed attention on WLFI’s treasury activity and market performance. WLFI fell to a new all-time low on Saturday, according to CoinGecko data.
That move came days after wallets linked to the project used billions of tokens as collateral to borrow about $75 million in stablecoins.
Voting process and token burn mechanics
WLFI said the governance vote will run for seven days. The proposal requires a quorum of 1 billion WLFI tokens and needs a simple majority of votes cast to pass.
If approved, the proposal would open a 10-day acceptance window for holders to affirm the new vesting schedules once the required functionality goes live.
The project noted that the burn for founders, team members, advisors, and partners would happen immediately upon passage, before the cliff period begins. That means the burn would not depend on the end of the two-year lockup.
The proposal states that up to 4,523,858,565 WLFI would be permanently removed from total supply at that point. For both holder groups, participation in the new schedule would require electronic acknowledgements and any eligibility checks deemed necessary under applicable law.
If a holder takes no action, the proposal says the default outcome is continued indefinite lockup under existing terms. A “No” vote would leave the current lock structure unchanged.
WLFI tied the proposal to the growth of its broader ecosystem over the past year. The project said it has launched USD1, expanded across Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana, rolled out lend and borrow access, integrated Chainlink Proof of Reserves, and built AgentPay SDK tools for programmable payments.