NEAR Vote Proposes Cutting Annual Token Issuance to 1.6%
NEAR’s HSP-029 proposes lowering maximum annual issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months, with a grace period and a separate validator upgrade required.
Key Notes
- HSP-029 proposes reducing maximum annual NEAR issuance from 2.5% to 1.6%.
- A 90-day grace period would precede the 24-month reduction schedule.
- Governance approval alone would not activate the change without validator adoption.
NEAR’s House of Stake has opened voting on a proposal to reduce the network’s maximum annual token issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% through a gradual, 24-month schedule. The change would lower the creation of new NEAR while also reducing token-denominated staking rewards.
The HSP-029 ballot opened October 19 and is scheduled to close November 2 at 4:48 p.m. UTC. A successful governance vote would not activate the new rate by itself: validators would also need to adopt a protocol upgrade.
A smaller issuance budget, with the same split
Authored by SVRN’s Sal Ternullo, the proposal calls for a 90-day grace period after ratification before reductions begin. Its technical specification measures the 24-month ramp from activation, rather than treating the initial waiting period as an immediate cut.
The issuance ceiling would decline in small increments each epoch, the network’s recurring validator cycle. The planned reduction totals 0.9 percentage points, or 36% of the existing maximum rate.
The allocation would remain 90% for staking participants and 10% for the treasury. HSP-029 does not propose a new fund, spending program or redistribution of those shares.
A lower issuance ceiling also differs from burning existing tokens. Fewer new tokens would be created than under the baseline; the proposal would not remove the same number from wallets or establish a fixed total supply.
Supply savings are projections
The author’s model estimates 11.8 million fewer NEAR issued over two years and 66.1 million fewer over six years, compared with leaving the maximum rate at 2.5%. The modeled six-year supply is 4.36% below that baseline, rather than 4.36% below today’s supply.
Those estimates are scenario calculations, not completed savings. They depend on the assumed schedule and comparison case and should not be read as a forecast for NEAR’s price.
The detailed staking table projects gross annual yield falling from about 5.27% to 3.37%. It holds staking participation at 42.71% of supply, measured in the proposal’s September 22 snapshot. Actual future yields would depend on how much NEAR remains staked, while validator commissions would affect delegators’ net rewards.
Validators still have a separate decision
The trade-off is lower dilution for holders alongside fewer new tokens paid to stakers and operators. The proposal acknowledges pressure on validator economics and uncertainty over how participation would respond to lower rewards.
Ternullo also discloses that SVRN holds a substantial NEAR position and participates in validator infrastructure. Its financial exposure is relevant to the proposal’s arguments about rewards and supply.
NEAR’s token economics have also featured in CoinScreamer’s coverage of Bitwise’s outlook for its trading and AI infrastructure. HSP-029 addresses the issuance side of that discussion; it does not itself create additional product revenue or guarantee higher demand.
The implementation sequence remains governance ratification, validator adoption and confirmed activation. Until that process is completed, the proposed 1.6% target is not an effective network rate.
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