The Trump family–backed crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, has started burning its own tokens in an effort to support prices that have been sliding since the project’s public launch on Monday.
Blockchain data flagged by Lookonchain revealed that the platform destroyed 47 million World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens on Wednesday, permanently reducing the circulating supply.
WLFI first hit secondary markets on Monday, when early investors gained the ability to sell to the public. The token briefly reached $0.331 before losing momentum, slipping 3.8% in the past 24 hours to just above $0.23.
Token burns are a common strategy in crypto, aimed at constraining supply in hopes of boosting the value of what remains in circulation.
Burn accounts for fraction of WLFI supply
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that about 24.66 billion WLFI tokens — a little over 25% of the project’s original 100 billion supply — have been unlocked to date. The latest burn accounted for just 0.19% of the circulating supply.
According to Etherscan, the tokens were transferred to a burn wallet on Sept. 2, reducing the total supply to just above 99.95 billion.
On Tuesday, World Liberty proposed a formal buyback-and-burn program that would use protocol-owned liquidity fees to steadily remove tokens from circulation, with the stated goal of boosting scarcity and price. The proposal argued that burning tokens would “increase the relative ownership percentage of committed long-term holders,” while eliminating tokens held by “participants not committed to WLFI’s long-term growth.”
The move comes as WLFI struggles to hold its value, having fallen more than 31% from its launch-day high amid heavy selling pressure. Supporters see the burn as a potential way to stabilize the token. Of the 133 community members who commented on the proposal, most expressed support, though an official vote has yet to take place.
Market still maturing, experts say
Kevin Rusher, founder of real-world asset lending platform RAAC, argued that the hype surrounding WLFI highlights crypto’s ongoing immaturity. In a statement, he said sustainable growth will depend on institutional adoption, not “celebrity tokens or short-term hype.”
“The concern, however, is that such blatantly speculative trading continues to damage trust in crypto — the opposite of what’s needed to build a resilient, long-term financial system,” Rusher added.
Mangirdas Ptašinskas, head of marketing and community at Galxe, pointed to the WLFI launch’s impact on Ethereum gas fees, which spiked dramatically. He said it’s a reminder that “our job is still far from done.”
“If a trading surge can suddenly push fees on a $200 transfer to $50, the infrastructure still isn’t ready for the mainstream adoption that’s inevitably coming,” Ptašinskas warned.
