NEAR Protocol weighs proposal to cut token issuance to 1.6% over two years

NEAR Protocol is weighing another trim to its token printing press. A governance proposal now on the table would lower the network’s maximum annual issuance rate from 2.5% to 1.6%, phased in over 24 months.

If approved, the change could keep approximately 66 million NEAR out of circulation. At current prices, that is about $329 million worth of tokens that would never hit the market.

What the proposal actually does

The plan comes from Sal Ternullo, CEO of SVRN. Instead of flipping a switch overnight, the issuance rate would step down in small increments every epoch.

Under the 2.5% rate, the network adds roughly 89,500 new NEAR tokens daily.

The proposal keeps the existing distribution of that new supply intact. Stakers would continue to receive 90% of issuance, while the remaining 10% would flow to the treasury.

There is also a 90-day grace period built in. That window is meant to give wallets, staking providers, and other ecosystem players time to adjust before the changes start biting.

The design includes guardrails too. Governance could pause the reduction mid-schedule, but it could not reverse course and push issuance back up.

The staking yield trade-off

Less inflation sounds great for holders. The catch lands on the people who stake.

Because stakers receive the bulk of new issuance, lowering the issuance rate reduces their rewards. Projected staking yields may fall from about 5.4% to 3.5% once the new target rate is reached.

How we got here

This is not NEAR’s first round of monetary tightening. The network previously cut its issuance rate from 5% to 2.5%.

That earlier change won approximately 80% support from validators. It went live with the nearcore v2.9.0 upgrade in late 2025.

The longer-term destination is a fixed total supply, though decisions about fixed-supply elements are not part of this phase of the process.

The road to a vote

The proposal is currently open for discussion on the NEAR Governance Forum. Community conversations began on September 30, 2026.

Validators and the broader community are being asked for feedback first. After that, a full technical proposal is expected to follow.

The final decision would rest with the House of Stake, NEAR’s governance body for this kind of change. A vote is tentatively scheduled for mid-October 2026 and is anticipated by October 11, 2026.

What this means for NEAR holders and validators

For long-term holders, roughly 66 million tokens kept off the market means supply that never gets minted is supply that never has to be absorbed by buyers.

For validators and staking providers, a drop from about 5.4% to 3.5% in projected yield could change how competitive NEAR staking looks against other networks offering higher nominal returns.

The 90/10 split also deserves attention. Keeping 10% of issuance flowing to the treasury means the treasury’s income shrinks alongside stakers’ rewards as total issuance falls, which could influence how the ecosystem funds development over time.

The pause-but-no-reversal guardrail makes each epoch’s step a small, permanent commitment, giving governance a way to stop if something breaks while locking in whatever reduction has already happened.