World Liberty Financial proposed paying holders who lock WLFI and vote directly

Lock, Vote, Earn

@worldlibertyfi has published a governance proposal that would pay $WLFI holders to participate directly in protocol decisions. Under the plan, holders must lock their unlocked $WLFI tokens on-chain for a minimum of 180 days and cast at least one direct governance vote every 90 days to qualify for rewards. Only holders of unlocked $WLFI who actively stake through the program would become eligible for additional incentives. Delegated votes would not count toward eligibility.

World Liberty Financial published the governance proposal on September 14, recommending the launch of a $WLFI Governance Engagement Incentive Program by October 1, 2026.

Rewards are not fixed. They scale with the size of the reward pool and the amount of $WLFI staked against it. Voting power would be calculated using a square root weighting mechanism that takes into account both the staking amount and the remaining lockup period. That structure is designed to curb outsized influence from large holders, and the proposal caps any single participant at 5% of total voting power through the protocol.

Funding and Transparency

Funding for the program would come from ecosystem sources, including treasury allocations and fees generated by the Dolomite-operated lending market. World Liberty Markets, the project's DeFi application built on Dolomite, offers lending and borrowing with USD1 as the primary asset, with ETH, cbBTC, USDC, USDT, and WLFI as collateral options. Under the new proposal, fees from that market would help top up the reward pool every two weeks, with balances published to a publicly monitorable on-chain address.

Inactive participants who fail to engage would forfeit their rewards. The proposal makes clear that passive token ownership alone is not enough. Holders must commit capital and show up at the ballot to earn.

The move fits a broader trend in decentralized finance of tying economic rewards to active governance participation rather than simple token holdings. The initiative effectively ties governance influence to long-term capital commitment rather than simple token ownership. For @worldlibertyfi, it also serves a strategic purpose: reducing liquid supply while deepening community engagement ahead of further product rollouts.

Sources:
Crypto Times: WLFI Launches Governance Proposal for Holder Voting Incentives
CoinDesk: World Liberty Financial Launches DeFi Lending Platform for USD1
The Block: World Liberty Financial Proposes Staking-Based WLFI Governance