NEAR Governance Approves Cut to Maximum Annual Issuance From 2.5% to 1.6%
NEAR's House of Stake approved proposal HSP-029 on November 2, 2026, lowering the maximum annual issuance cap from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months. The change still requires Security Council ratification and validator adoption of a protocol upgrade before its 90-day grace period begins.
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What Governance Approved
NEAR's governance body, the House of Stake, approved proposal HSP-029 on November 2, 2026, cutting the network's maximum annual token issuance from 2.5% to 1.6%. Sources report the proposal passed with approximately 3.29 million veNEAR in favor, a figure that reflects voting weight inside House of Stake rather than a count of individual voters. The proposal was authored by Sal Ternullo, CEO of SVRN.
The reduction is a 36% decrease in the issuance ceiling and is phased in over 24 months, following a grace period of roughly 90 days. Both outlets describe the proposal as a straight reduction in minting, with no new treasury spending and no validator subsidies attached.
Activation Still Pending
The vote is not yet the end of the process. According to The Defiant, Security Council ratification and a validator-adopted protocol upgrade still stand between the vote and activation. Crypto Briefing describes the same two steps as the trigger for the grace period clock. Until both occur, the existing 2.5% cap remains in force.
Monetary Path and Prior Cut
This is NEAR's second issuance reduction. The first cut, from 5% to 2.5%, took effect in late October 2025 according to Crypto Briefing. Taken together, the two reductions move the network from a 5% ceiling to a 1.6% ceiling across roughly a year of governance action.
The proposal keeps the existing 90/10 split, with stakers receiving 90% of newly issued tokens and the protocol treasury receiving 10%.
Projected Effects on Supply and Yield
Modeling cited by Crypto Briefing puts current minting at approximately 89,500 NEAR per day, falling to around 57,300 NEAR per day at full implementation. Over the first two years, the model projects about 11.8 million fewer NEAR issued, and roughly 66 million fewer over six years compared with the prior cap.
Staking yields are projected to fall from about 5.27% gross to 3.37%. The Defiant does not give a separate yield figure in its source material, so the 5.27% to 3.37% range rests on the Crypto Briefing modeling. Because stakers receive 90% of new issuance, a smaller issuance pool directly reduces what stakers earn. Non-stakers are expected to see slower dilution of their share of total supply, though the sources do not quantify that effect.
Treasury and Next Steps
The treasury keeps its 10% share of new issuance, but with fewer tokens minted overall its absolute inflow will shrink over time. Neither source describes any alternative funding mechanism for treasury operations under HSP-029.
The immediate next steps are Security Council ratification and validator adoption of the upgrade. Whether validators adopt the change on the proposed timeline is the open question that will determine when the 90-day grace period begins and when the phased reduction starts.
Why It Matters
For Traders
Staking yield is projected to fall from about 5.27% to 3.37%, but the phase-in and pending validator adoption mean no near-term change to supply or yield.
For Investors
Two successive issuance cuts totaling a reduction from 5% to 1.6% signal a deliberate move toward lower dilution in NEAR's long-run monetary policy.
For Builders
Protocols modeling NEAR staking returns or treasury inflows should rerun projections against the 1.6% cap once validator adoption timing is confirmed.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
