Duke law instructor: Trump family's WLFI is an unregistered security

Lee Reiners, a law instructor at Duke University, has argued that the Trump family's DeFi project, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), constitutes an unregistered security because it creates an expectation of profit and is centrally operated. According to The Block, Reiners stated that while the project's backers claim WLFI is simply a governance token, it was sold to finance a cryptocurrency business. He argued that the issuer's creation of profit expectations through marketing and a white paper satisfies a core element of the Howey Test. Reiners also noted that recent lawsuits, such as one involving Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun, have effectively shown that claims of decentralization are often a fiction. However, he questioned whether the current U.S. SEC would conduct a meaningful investigation.