TRON founder Justin Sun has publicly accused World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi venture with alleged ties to the Trump family, of embedding a hidden backdoor control mechanism within its token contract. Sun claims this feature allows the project to freeze, control, or seize user funds, directly contradicting the core principles of decentralization.
Sun, who previously invested in WLFI, stated his early support was based on its promise to democratize finance. However, he revealed that WLFI secretly implemented a "backdoor blacklist function" in the smart contract. This function grants the company unilateral power to freeze, restrict, or confiscate token holder assets without notice, reason, or recourse.
The accusations follow a contentious incident in September 2025 when WLFI froze Sun's wallet, locking approximately 540 million WLFI tokens after transfers raised suspicions of selling activity. Sun characterized these transfers as minor tests and urged the team to reverse the decision, warning that unilateral freezes would erode ecosystem confidence.
Sun further criticized WLFI's governance, alleging flawed votes with restricted participation, missing information, and predetermined outcomes that did not represent the community.
World Liberty Financial has faced scrutiny after reports indicated project-linked wallets used substantial WLFI amounts in lending operations on the Dolomite DeFi lending protocol. On-chain data revealed hundreds of millions in WLFI deployed as collateral, sparking concerns about potential liquidations and further selling pressure. The project team responded by stating they are not at risk of liquidation, have partially repaid loans, and plan a governance proposal to address the issues. The WLFI token has experienced a significant price decline, hitting a record low of $0.077 on April 11.