A public dispute between Tron founder Justin Sun and the Trump-linked crypto project The situation worsened on Wednesday after Sun sharply criticized a new governance proposal, calling it “one of the most absurd governance scams” he had seen.
In a lengthy post on X, Sun accused the project of designing a vote that punishes dissent, with token holders who vote against the proposal risking having their tokens locked indefinitely.
He also claimed that he and other large holders had been excluded from the process, alleging that tokens tied to around 4% of the voting rights under his control had been frozen.
More broadly, Sun questioned whether the vote had any real authority, saying control of the protocol relied on anonymous wallet addresses, including a multisignature setup that can overturn results and a separate account with the power to blacklist users.
“This proposal is not governance,” Sun said in his message. “This is an exercise of power by a handful of selected people who are carefully preparing a new operation to consolidate power and expropriate property.”
WLFI proposal
Critics are focusing on WLFI’s new proposal that would overhaul token blocks across the entire ecosystem. More than 62 billion WLFI tokens would be subject to new conditions, including multi-year lock-ups and vesting schedules.
Under the plan, tokens held by Insiders – such as team members, advisors and partners – would be subject to a two-year lock-up followed by a three-year gradual release, as well as a 10% token burn upon registration. Early supporters would face slightly shorter vesting terms, but no burn. In total, up to 4.5 billion tokens could be permanently destroyed.
Holders who do not agree to the new terms would remain stuck indefinitely, according to the proposal.
Sun wasn’t the only one to react. Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, said early investors had indeed been “robust”.
“All early investors in $WLFI who thought they had solid profits were brutalized by the Trump family themselves,” Dedic wrote on X, adding that the move appeared to give the project another chance to extract value from investors. He also criticized what he described as “egregious misconduct,” with little effort to cover it up.
A World Liberty Financial spokesperson told CoinDesk that the proposal “was designed to further align all participants in the WLFI ecosystem over the long term,” adding that it aims to “optimally ensure long-term participation in our ecosystem and help ensure healthy market supply.”
Intensification of the feud
This violent reaction marks the latest episode in the breakdown of relations between Sun and the project.
Earlier this week, WLFI threatened legal action, claiming it had “contracts” and “evidence” after Sun accused the team of exploiting users through DeFi transactions.
The conflict has been going on for months. In September, WLFI blacklisted a blockchain address linked to Sun that held approximately $107 million of its governance tokens at the time. This marks a sharp reversal from late 2024, when Sun was a key backer, investing $30 million in WLFI tokens and taking on an advisory role to help support the project.
Tensions escalated after WLFI deposited 5 billion of its own tokens into lending protocol Dolomite – of which one of its advisors is a co-founder – and borrowed around $75 million in stablecoins. The tokens fell 12% to an all-time high the next day, after which Sun publicly accused the project of treating users like “personal ATMs,” sparking the latest legal threats.
