A high-stakes confrontation is unfolding between World Liberty Financial (WLF) and its largest investor, Justin Sun, after the project blacklisted a wallet containing billions of its WLFI tokens.

The move, which effectively froze an estimated $100 million in assets, follows intense market speculation that Sun was responsible for a significant sell-off, contributing to a dramatic price collapse for the token.

Blacklist Sparks Governance Crisis

On September 5, blockchain analytics account Spot on Chain revealed that WLF’s controlling address invoked the blacklist function on the WLFI contract, targeting wallet 0x5AB2…DA74. The address had bought three billion WLFI during the project’s initial coin offering (ICO), unlocked 600 million, and recently moved 54 million tokens, worth around $11 million, to fresh wallets.

By blacklisting the address, WLF froze the remaining tokens indefinitely. Commentators quickly pounced on the development. “WLFI just proved DeFi isn’t ‘decentralized’ at all … it can be blacklisted, frozen, shut down,” wrote analyst Shanaka Anslem Pereira, comparing the maneuver to IMF-style controls.

Justin Sun, who invested $75 million into WLF in 2024, hit back on X, blasting the freeze as unjust. “My tokens were unreasonably frozen,” he wrote, stressing that “tokens are sacred and inviolable—this should be the most basic value of any blockchain.”

Sun went further, warning that WLF’s actions “not only violate the legitimate rights of investors, but also risk damaging broader confidence in World Liberty Financials.”

Price Fallout and Market Outlook

At the time of this writing, WLFI was trading at $0.1815, down 1.6% on the day after dipping as much as 4.2% in the past hour. The token has collapsed nearly 40% from last week’s high of $0.3087 and is now down 45% from its September 1 peak of $0.3313.

Yesterday, selling pressure drove WLFI to a record low of $0.164 before it rebounded slightly. For now, trading remains frenzied, with more than $1.3 billion in daily turnover, while the project’s market cap stands near $4.9 billion, which still puts it within the global top 40.

The standoff between Sun and the WLF team is now the defining test for the project. If the blacklist remains, observers say it risks cementing perceptions that WLF’s governance is centralized and arbitrary.

However, even if it were to be reversed, the blacklist could already have harmed WLF’s credibility, which, a while back, saw the Trump family quietly trim its ownership from 60% to 40%. In either case, WLF’s promise of a “decentralized” financial system is facing its most significant challenge yet.

True Markets, a new decentralized finance (DeFi) trading platform focused on stablecoin-native execution, has launched its mobile app on Solana and closed an $11 million Series A, bringing total funding to $20 million, the company said in a press release Tuesday.

The funding round was co-led by Accomplice and RRE Ventures, with participation from Reciprocal Ventures, Variant Fund, and PayPal Ventures.

Seed investors Paxos Ventures and the Solana Foundation, continue to support the firm, True Markets said.

Founded by Coinbase (COIN) and Circle veterans Vishal Gupta and Patrick McCreary, True Markets aims to deliver a non-custodial, mobile-first DeFi trading experience for retail users, prioritizing speed, simplicity, and transparency.

The app enables stablecoin-powered token trading on Solana, with gasless execution, smart order routing, and embedded key management via Turnkey, all without users surrendering custody of funds, True Markets said.

“Retail traders have been stuck with clunky workflows, unclear pricing, and fragmented liquidity,” said Vishal Gupta, CEO of True Markets, in the release.

“Our goal is to deliver a fairer and more transparent experience that makes asset discovery simple, shows real-time market momentum, and feels as intuitive as the best apps on your phone,” Gupta added.

Backed by infrastructure partners Turnkey and Definitive, the app features real-time market sparklines, automated execution across decentralized venues, and hosted wallets that support immediate funding and trading within a non-custodial framework.

True Markets said it plans to expand into both CeFi and DeFi markets, with future integrations including TrueX, a centralized exchange designed for institutional liquidity and qualified custody.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Solana Faces Resistance As Price Pulls Back To Retest Support

Solana (SOL) is consolidating just below the $181 level after a strong 22% rally from last week. As shown in the chart, price action surged above both the 200-day EMA ($161.88) and 200-day SMA ($181.11), signaling renewed bullish momentum. However, the current pullback from $180 to around $173.48 shows that the $181 level is acting as a key resistance, which has previously served as a rejection zone multiple times in the past.

Volume remains healthy, and the recent move shows strong market participation, but bulls now need to hold the $170–$172 range to maintain control. A successful retest of this area as support could set the stage for a breakout above $181. Failing to hold above this zone, however, could trigger a correction back to the $160–$165 region, near the 200 EMA.

Related Reading

Technically, SOL is attempting to break a multi-month downtrend and is forming a higher high structure for the first time since late December. The convergence of the moving averages suggests a pivotal moment. If buyers step in with conviction, a move toward $200 becomes likely. Until then, traders will closely watch the $181 level for a decisive breakout or rejection.

Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView