NEAR House of Stake Approves Issuance Cut to 1.6%

NEAR Protocol’s House of Stake approved a proposal to lower the network’s maximum annual token issuance from 2.5% to 1.6%, a change that would be phased in over 24 months if it clears the remaining review and implementation steps. The vote on November 2 approved HSP029 with 99.97% support among participating voting power, according to the proposal’s reported result. The measure does not immediately change the issuance rate: the existing 2.5% cap remains in place while the Security Council reviews the outcome and the proposal proceeds toward ratification. Under HSP029, issuance would decline gradually, with smaller adjustments each network epoch, until it reaches 1.6% at the end of the 24-month phase-in. The proposal retains the current distribution of newly issued tokens, with 90% allocated to stakers and 10% to the protocol treasury. It changes the issuance ceiling rather than the distribution split. The proposal estimates that the lower cap would result in 11.8 million fewer NEAR tokens issued over two years than under the existing ceiling, and 66.1 million fewer over six years. These are modeled comparisons, not reductions already recorded. The proposal also projects gross...