NEAR Governance Approves HSP-029 to Cut Issuance to 1.6%

TL;DR

• NEAR’s House of Stake approved HSP-029, which would lower issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months while keeping the existing 90/10 allocation.
• The proposal estimates 11.8 million fewer NEAR issued in two years and 66.1 million fewer over six years, with staking yield to decline.
• Implementation requires Security Council review, a 90-day grace period and validator adoption through a protocol upgrade, meaning the 1.6% ceiling is not yet binding.

NEAR Protocol’s House of Stake has approved HSP-029, a governance proposal that would gradually lower maximum annual token issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months. In an official post, the network described the change as a transparent, programmatic evolution of its economics. The vote advances a new issuance schedule for NEAR Protocol, but the reduction is not yet binding, because additional review and implementation steps remain.

NEW PROPOSAL PASSED

House of Stake, NEAR’s decentralized onchain governance body, has voted to lower NEAR’s maximum annual issuance from 2.5% to 1.6%, phased in over 24 months.

This is how NEAR’s economics evolve transparently and programmatically: token holders put a core… pic.twitter.com/4rXUk8RKcL

— NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) November 2, 2026

HSP-029 Reshapes NEAR’s Issuance Schedule

The proposal changes one protocol parameter while preserving the current 90/10 distribution of newly issued tokens between staking participants and the protocol treasury. Once implemented, the ceiling would decline linearly each epoch by roughly 3.75 basis points per month until reaching 1.6% in month 24. HSP-029 targets slower dilution without redesigning NEAR’s underlying emissions mechanism, extending the network’s broader tokenomics evolution.

Under the proposal’s estimates, the phased reduction would avoid approximately 11.8 million NEAR in issuance during the first two years and 66.1 million over six years. Supply would consequently be about 4.36% lower than under the existing 2.5% ceiling. Daily issuance is projected to fall from roughly 89,500 NEAR to 57,300 NEAR after full implementation, adding another stage to NEAR’s ongoing inflation policy changes.

The adjustment also affects staking economics. Gross staking yield is projected to decline from 5.268% to 3.372% over the same period, assuming the staking participation rate measured in September remains unchanged. The proposal argues that the active validator set is already oversubscribed and notes that continued issuance transfers value from unstaked supply toward participants receiving rewards. Lower issuance therefore changes both token supply growth and validator incentives, an issue closely connected with the ecosystem’s long-term funding debate.

Approval by House of Stake does not immediately activate HSP-029. The schedule would also leave the 90/10 allocation unchanged throughout the transition, keeping the proposal narrowly focused on the maximum issuance parameter itself. The result must still undergo Security Council review before ratification, followed by a 90-day grace period and a protocol upgrade that validators must adopt. The governance vote is therefore a completed decision stage, not the final implementation of the 1.6% ceiling. If those remaining steps are completed, the new schedule will roll out gradually rather than through an abrupt issuance cut, while preserving the existing allocation between stakers and the treasury alongside NEAR’s wider staking ecosystem.