After a month of waiting, World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token holders will see the token become tradable on the spot market at 8:00 AM Eastern Time on Monday, September 1 (8:00 PM Beijing Time on September 1). A month ago, WLFI holders voted in favor of the project's third governance proposal, with 99.94% of tokens voting to make the token tradable.
The first on-chain unlocking window will open through the Trump family-led project's "lockbox," allowing eligible buyers to claim 20% of their presale allocation and leaving subsequent unlocks for future governance votes. The on-chain "lockbox" contract currently holds approximately 15 billion WLFI, accounting for 15% of the project's total supply. This will create a short-term liquidity event where nearly 3 billion WLFI tokens (worth approximately $950 million at recent prices) will begin trading, followed by DAO-driven supply decisions in the coming weeks and months.
Update: The CEO of CoinMarketCap stated on September 1 that, according to confirmation from World Liberty Financial officials, the circulating supply of WLFI will be 27 billion tokens!
It is worth noting that of the 85,873 wallets holding WLFI before the lockbox launch, over 30,000 have locked all their WLFI in the contract (a prerequisite for trading).
Galaxy's View:
By any measure, this is one of the most active and engaged token holder communities in the cryptocurrency space. Over one-third of holders are active on-chain, continuously updating and interacting with WLFI smart contracts, which is particularly notable in the DeFi space. Most participants in DeFi face low governance participation—dynamic protocols are often used to tax idle holders.
While the active user base is commendable, the large number of wallets depositing all their assets into the lockbox system indicates a broad willingness to trade. The first batch of WLFI holders who bought at $0.015 per token have achieved a 20x gain, while the second batch who bought at $0.05 per token have gained about 6x. The willingness to hedge and cash out these positions will be high, as holders need only sell a portion of their 20% unlocked share to recoup their initial investment in dollar terms.
Based on pre-market trading levels, WLFI's fully diluted value (FDV) is approximately $20 billion at $0.20 and $42 billion at $0.42. Since 20% of the approximately 15 billion WLFI balance in the lockbox will be unlocked on September 1, we expect at least 3 billion tokens to enter circulation. At $0.20 per token, this translates to a circulating supply of approximately $592 million; at $0.42 per token, it translates to approximately $1.24 billion. In other words, the initial release represents 20% of the $0.015 and $0.05 presale portions, up to 5% of the total supply—exactly the type of token Alameda used to eagerly trade, with low circulation and high FDV. (Note: CoinMarketCap CEO confirmed with World Liberty Financial officials that the circulating supply of WLFI will be 27 billion tokens. At $0.20 per token, this equates to a circulating market cap of $5.4 billion; at $0.42 per token, it equates to $11.34 billion.)
Pre-market trading is highly active. Binance's open interest (OI) is nearly $250 million, with 24-hour trading volume exceeding $500 million. On the Hyperliquid platform, WLFI trading volume exceeds approximately 1.5 billion, with open interest valued at around $60 million. Due to structural weaknesses, pre-market trading should always be viewed with caution: prices are based on consensus among participants, with no external spot oracle, so market forces can drive prices. Last week, a well-funded trader made a significant impact in Hyperliquid XPL pre-market trading, driving prices up approximately threefold in a short period and triggering widespread short liquidations, illustrating this dynamic. Hyperliquid "hyperps" and funding in almost all pre-market markets are calculated based on moving averages of closing prices rather than external spot references, which can amplify these events.
The first wave of floating supply between $0.20 and $0.42 represents nominal tokens worth billions or even over $10 billion entering the circulating market. This scale typically causes significant basis volatility and funding skews as spot markets open and cross-exchange liquidity rebalances. As spot trading begins, cross-exchange basis should contract, but volatility will not disappear. Despite active trading, the scale of the unlock may still exceed current pre-market open interest and trigger significant price fluctuations.
Beyond the numbers, it is important to remember what the WLFI token represents. WLFI's "Gold Paper" terms state that the token is for governance only: no revenue, no distributions, no equity, and no rights to protocol cash flows. The same terms disclose that the company has granted a fixed allocation of 22.5 billion WLFI to DT Marks DeFi, LLC (affiliated with Donald J. Trump) and entered into a revenue-sharing agreement that allocates 75% of net protocol revenue to this entity and 25% to other insiders outside of token holders. WLFI governance votes are for signaling purposes only, and the World Liberty team can override the vote at its discretion. World Liberty Financial's most profitable project to date is its $1 stablecoin (developed with Binance's code), which was launched without any forum posts or governance votes.
If you are a memecoin trader or rates trader, good luck. If you are more focused on fundamentals, reread the above paragraphs.
