According to Lee Reiners, a lecturer at Duke University and former Federal Reserve examiner, on Friday (May 8), World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token may be an unregistered security despite the project’s claims that it is a pure governance token. Reiners argued that the 25 billion WLFI tokens sold out of a 100 billion total supply were marketed with expectations of profit, meeting the SEC’s Howey Test criteria for securities. The token was sold before the protocol was built and leveraged the Trump family name. Reiners also cited a $75 million arrangement with the Dolomite lending protocol and ongoing litigation from Justin Sun alleging token freezes as evidence of centralized control, questioning whether WLFI qualifies as a security.
Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third parties and does not represent the views or opinions of Gate. The content displayed on this page is for reference only and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Gate does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information and shall not be liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. Virtual asset investments carry high risks and are subject to significant price volatility. You may lose all of your invested principal. Please fully understand the relevant risks and make prudent decisions based on your own financial situation and risk tolerance. For details, please refer to
Disclaimer.
Related Articles
Duke Lecturer Argues World Liberty Financial's WLFI Token May Be Unregistered Security
According to Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at Duke University and former Federal Reserve Bank of New York examiner, World Liberty Financial's WLFI token may constitute an unregistered security, in a blog post on Friday. Reiners argues
GateNews7h ago
Duke Lecturer Argues World Liberty Financial Issued Unregistered Security, Citing 25B WLFI Token Sale
According to Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at Duke University and former Federal Reserve Bank of New York examiner, World Liberty Financial's WLFI token may constitute an unregistered security, as argued in a blog post on Friday (May 8). Citing the SEC's recent token taxonomy, Reiners notes that W
GateNews11h ago
Australian Police Seize 52.3 Bitcoin Worth $4.1M in Dark Web Enforcement on May 9
According to Crypto.news, Australian New South Wales police seized 52.3 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $4.1 million USD (570 million Australian dollars), in an enforcement operation targeting dark web markets on May 9. The seizure represents one of the largest cryptocurrency asset confiscations in
GateNews12h ago
Pi Network Bans Top DApp WorldBanksPi With 140K Users Without Warning
According to Pi Network DEX, on May 9, 2026, Pi Network's Core Team removed WorldBanksPi, a top-ranked DApp in the Pi Browser with over 140,000 users, without advance notice or appeal process. The project was identified as a Ponzi-style operation marketing false valuations and deposit-to-earn
GateNews14h ago
A former Navy captain in Singapore stole 1.7 million USDT and was sentenced to six years and ten months in prison
According to a report by The Straits Times on May 9, Singapore’s National Court judge Wang Qinru made a ruling on May 8 in the case of the defendant, Zhang Rongxuan (35, phonetic transliteration), sentencing him to six years and ten months in prison. Zhang Rongxuan, a former captain in the Naval Diving Unit’s elite diving unit, was found to have, while a friend was out, entered the apartment, photographed the cold wallet seed phrases, and later stole 1.7 million USDT held by the friend. Criminal
MarketWhisper15h ago
Former New York Fed examiner: WLFI linked to Trump may issue unregistered securities
On May 8, Lee Reiners, a lecturer at the Duke University School of Law and a former examiner at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, said in a blog post that World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance agreement closely connected to the Trump family, may have issued unregistered securities, and that the WLFI token should fall under scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Reiners’ Core Analysis: The Howey Test and WLFI’s Legal Characterization According to Reiners’ blog
MarketWhisper15h ago
