Trump crypto venture offers ‘guaranteed direct access’ for US$5 million

Eric Trump, Executive VP of The Trump Organization, from right, speaks as Co-founder of World Liberty Financial Zach Witkoff and Founder of TRON Justin Sun look on during Token 2049, a Crypto event, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

Investors in World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co-founded by U.S. President Trump and his sons, have secured what the company described on its website as “guaranteed direct access” to certain members of its team for those who lock up US$5 million worth of their tokens for a six-month period in exchange for voting rights.

Among those listed on World Liberty documents as the firm’s “Supporting Team” are the sons of the U.S. president, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump. The company said Trump and other family members won’t be part of the direct access arrangement.

The vote by holders of World Liberty tokens closed Thursday. The company said that 99 per cent of the ballots favored the proposal, with 1,786 votes cast, according to the World Liberty website. Reuters couldn’t independently confirm these figures and could not ascertain how many individual token holders participated.

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The proposed arrangement, which World Liberty published on its website Feb. 25, creates a privileged tier of token holders, appearing to undercut its previous public pledge to democratize access to finance.

“Super Nodes” is how the firm refers to investors holding $5 million in the locked tokens, the largest level listed in the proposal.

“Among the privileges for Super Nodes is preferential access to the World Liberty Financial business development team and executives – not to specific founders – to discuss partnership opportunities,” said its spokesman, David Wachsman. The World Liberty proposal first issued in February said the “Super Nodes” would gain “guaranteed direct access to the WLFI team” for “partnership discussions.”

Asked by Reuters whether Super Nodes would win “guaranteed” or “preferential” access to World Liberty, Wachsman did not address this distinction directly, only saying that: “Super Nodes grant access to World Liberty Financial’s business development team.”

A section of the World Liberty website entitled “Meet our team” previously listed, among others, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump. Following Reuters’ questions about the proposal, the website page was altered with the “Meet our team” section removed entirely.

Wachsman said that the website was “always being upgraded” and that “any recent changes” were unrelated to Reuters’ reporting.

The partnership discussions will be managed by World Liberty’s business development and compliance teams, Wachsman said in a separate statement. “WLFI does not arrange or facilitate access to any individuals outside of those teams as part of the Super Node program,” he said. “Being a Super Node doesn’t guarantee a partnership. It means being taken seriously in a process with rigorous standards behind it.”

World Liberty said on its website that the offer is designed to “incentivize more significant participation in governance” of the crypto firm, which earned the family of President Donald Trump more than $460 million in the first half of 2025 alone, according to a Reuters analysis. It calls on holders of its WLFI tokens to lock those holdings from trading for 180 days in exchange, a process known as “staking,” before being able to vote on firm governance matters. Those who take part in at least two votes earn a yield of two per cent, paid in WLFI tokens.

The “Super Nodes” stake 50 million WLFI tokens, currently worth around $5 million, according to prices on crypto data website CoinGecko.

Trump’s opposition in Congress, along with a host of government ethics experts and academics, have pointed to the fact that the president’s family has gained enormous wealth from crypto even as he has eased regulatory scrutiny of crypto firms. Trump, too, now presides over a government whose decisions have a direct effect on World Liberty – for example, the Trump-backed World Liberty is currently seeking approval from the Trump-led administration for a U.S. banking license. Trump’s Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his sons are also founders of World Liberty and were listed as part of the company’s team on its website. Wachsman said the Super Node program does not grant access to members of the Witkoff family, either.

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Under the terms of World Liberty’s business, 75 per cent of all new token sales go to the family of President Trump, meaning that those who have purchased $5 million of the tokens effectively sent $3.75 million to the Trumps. Under a previous version of the terms, the Witkoffs were entitled to 12.5 per cent of all new token sales, meaning they would effectively be sent $625,000, though the most recent version says only that they receive an unspecified portion of a 25 per cent stake.

David Warrington, White House Counsel, told Reuters in a statement that, “The President has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities. President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner and to suggest so otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious.” Warrington added that Steve Witkoff, “like all Administration officials, takes seriously his compliance with the government ethics rules. As Special Envoy for Peace Missions, he has not and does not participate in any official matters that could impact his financial interests. He has also divested from World Liberty Financial, notwithstanding his ability and willingness to recuse.”

The access offered by the new “staking” measures appears to represent a pivot for World Liberty’s public messaging, according to a review of the company’s public statements. After the project launched, a month before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, its executives said it would bring crypto to the masses, from teachers and dentists to firemen, by launching a mobile app and focusing on governance by token holders.

Until now, WLFI token holders have been able to vote on changes to the firm’s underlying code, with each token conferring one vote. They could also voice their approval or disapproval of the venture’s “directions and plans,” according to the World Liberty’s so-called Gold Paper, a summary of the venture.

However, passage of the measure means voting rights will be conferred only to those who hold staked tokens – those either previously purchased or newly bought that have been locked from use for six months.

(Editing by Tom Lasseter and Anna Driver)