NEAR Opens Vote to Cut Token Issuance to 1.6%

$NEAR’s House of Stake has opened voting on a proposal to reduce the blockchain’s maximum annual token issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months, lowering dilution for holders while reducing the rewards paid to stakers and validators.

HSP-029, authored by SVRN’s Sal Ternullo, would preserve the allocation of 90% of issuance to staking participants and 10% to the treasury. The proposal projects gross annual staking yield falling from about 5.27% to 3.37%, assuming staking participation stays at the 42.71% measured in its September 22 snapshot.

The ballot opened October 19 and runs for 14 days, ending November 2. Approval would not itself change emissions: the proposal requires validators to adopt a protocol upgrade separately and specifies a 90-day grace period after ratification before the reduction begins.

$NEAR Protocol announced the vote, saying the proposal would “cut issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months.”

Lower Dilution, Lower Validator Income

The cap would decline gradually each epoch, at a pace equivalent to roughly 3.75 basis points a month. The grace period is intended to give wallets, exchanges, custodians and staking providers time to update their disclosures.

For holders who do not stake, the change means slower dilution without a reduction in staking income they currently receive. Stakers would earn fewer new tokens, while validators would collect less commission revenue. The proposal estimates that operators without their own $NEAR holdings would lose roughly 36% of commission revenue at the target rate; their actual income would also depend on delegated stake and fees.

The proposal acknowledges that lower yields could reduce participation in staking. Its projected yield is not a guaranteed return: if less $NEAR is staked, the staking allocation would be divided among fewer tokens, raising the yield for those remaining.

Ternullo’s disclosure says SVRN holds approximately 55 million $NEAR, more than 90% of it staked, and intends to vote in favor.

The vote extends an earlier issuance overhaul. As The Defiant reported in October 2025, $NEAR’s core team put a reduction from 5% to roughly 2.5% into an upgrade despite an unsuccessful earlier community vote, prompting objections over governance. Validator adoption remained a separate requirement.

HSP-029 explicitly retains that separate adoption step. Its implementation plan also calls for quarterly reports comparing actual issuance with the schedule and tracking validator-set health.