World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family–linked DeFi platform, this week rolled out a paid, tiered staking program that shifts how governance and team access are granted to token holders.
What WLFI announced
- WLFI’s new “Super Nodes” proposal—voted on Thursday and unveiled publicly on Friday—creates a high-tier that requires locking up a large quantity of tokens for six months in return for elevated governance privileges and “guaranteed direct access” to members of the WLFI team, language WLFI included in its documentation (as earlier reported by Reuters).
- To become a Super Node investors must stake 50 million WLFI tokens (roughly $5 million at current prices). Stakers earn voting rights and a 2% WLFI token yield if they participate in at least two governance votes during the staking period.
- The on-chain vote closed with WLFI reporting that 99% of the 1,786 votes cast supported the change.
Who’s named and what it means
- World Liberty’s paperwork lists members of the Trump family among a “Supporting Team”—Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron Trump are named—but the company says those family members will not be part of the promised direct-access arrangement.
- WLFI spokesman David Wachsman said Super Nodes will have access to the WLFI team but that access “does not guarantee a partnership,” framing the change as a way to encourage heavier participation in governance rather than a direct commercial promise.
A departure from earlier governance
- Previously, WLFI said all token holders could vote on protocol code changes on a one-token, one-vote basis and weigh in on strategic directions per its Gold Paper. The Super Node proposal limits meaningful on-chain governance to those willing and able to stake large sums for the required period—an explicit move away from the project’s earlier emphasis on broad, democratized access.
- WLFI’s website frames the program as an incentive to boost governance engagement. The site also states the firm generated more than $460 million for the Trump family in the first half of 2025 (WLFI’s figure).
Market and related activity
- Separately, Bitcoinist reported that former President Trump is preparing to host a second exclusive dinner for holders of his official memecoin, TRUMP, on April 25 at Mar-a-Lago.
- WLFI’s native token was trading near $0.1079 at the time of writing, up almost 6% over the past 24 hours amid a broader crypto market rebound into the weekend.
Why it matters
- The change highlights a recurring tension in DeFi: balancing wide participation with the incentives needed to secure deep engagement and investment. Critics could view the Super Node model as concentrating power among wealthier holders, while supporters will point to stronger incentives for sustained governance involvement and deeper institutional relationships.
(Reporting references: WLFI documentation, Reuters, WLFI website, Bitcoinist; price data via TradingView.)
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
