Voters in House of Stake, the onchain governance body of @NEARProtocol, approved a proposal to lower the maximum yearly issuance of $NEAR from 2.5% to 1.6%. The reduction will phase in step by step over 24 months, starting after a grace period of about 90 days.
The decision is a governance approval, not an immediate change to the network. The proposal still needs a review by the House of Stake Security Council and a protocol upgrade adopted by validators before it takes effect.
What the Proposal Changes
The measure is known as HSP-029. It calls for a 90-day grace period after ratification, followed by a gradual reduction over 24 months. The current allocation of new tokens would stay the same: 90% to staking participants and 10% to the protocol treasury.
The proposal estimates about 11.8 million fewer NEAR would be minted over two years. That figure is measured against a constant 2.5% regime, and it is a projection from the proposal rather than a realized outcome. Over six years, the proposal estimates a reduction of about 66.1 million tokens, equivalent to a 4.36% reduction in supply compared with the current level.
Gross staking yield would ease from about 5.3% to 3.4% once the new rate is reached. Using the network's Sept. 22 staking ratio, the proposal models yield falling from 5.268% to 3.372%, and the actual figure at the end of the ramp will depend on conditions at the time.
Trade-Offs for Stakers and Validators
A lower issuance ceiling would reduce dilution for holders who do not stake, while leaving fewer newly issued tokens for staking rewards. The move from 2.5% to 1.6% is a 36% reduction of the starting cap, according to CryptoSlate.
Validator adoption is a separate step. Polkachu has indicated it would adopt the corresponding upgrade. The proposal follows an earlier issuance debate on a reduction from 5% to 2.5% in June 2025.
Holders who stake $NEAR should check how their chosen validator plans to handle the upgrade, since the reduced issuance would only apply once validators move to the new protocol version.
Sources:
House of Stake proposal 29 (HSP-029)
NEAR Forum: HSP-029 issuance ramp proposal
TokenPost: NEAR Governance Opens Vote to Cut Annual Token Issuance to 1.6%