Lee Reiners, a Duke University law lecturer, has raised concerns about the SEC’s independence in light of allegations surrounding WLFI, a governance token linked to the DeFi project World Liberty Financial and the Trump family. Reiners argues that WLFI may be an unregistered security, citing the SEC’s token classification framework. He points out that WLFI was presold in large quantities before the protocol’s development, with marketing leveraging the Trump brand, suggesting an expectation of profit among buyers, which aligns with the SEC’s Howey Test for securities.
Reiners also questions the project’s decentralization, referencing a lawsuit by Justin Sun where World Liberty allegedly froze his tokens and revoked governance rights, indicating centralized control. Additionally, he highlights potential conflicts of interest, noting that World Liberty borrowed $75 million in stablecoins using WLFI as collateral, with ties between Dolomite protocol’s co-founder and World Liberty raising further scrutiny.
