NEAR’s House of Stake governance body has approved a plan to lower the token’s maximum annual issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months, reducing dilution for holders while cutting the rewards paid to stakers and validator operators.
The HSP-029 ballot closed Nov. 2. House of Stake’s public voting records show approximately 3.29 million veNEAR of voting power in favor, about 1,071 abstaining and less than 0.00002 against. Its voter record lists 36 voting accounts. Approval does not change emissions immediately: Security Council review and ratification, a roughly 90-day grace period and separate validator adoption of a protocol upgrade are still required.
For stakers, the proposal models gross annual yield falling from about 5.27% to 3.37% at the target issuance rate, assuming the staking participation measured in its Sept. 22 snapshot stays unchanged at 42.71% of supply. Validator commission revenue would fall roughly 36% under unchanged staking and fee assumptions. Holders who do not stake would face less dilution without losing staking income.
“Validators adopt the change through a protocol upgrade, which makes it binding,” NEAR Protocol said in its announcement.
https://x.com/i/status/2117338455189385533
Lower Rewards, Separate Validator Consent
The proposal, authored by SVRN CEO Sal Ternullo, retains the existing allocation described in the document as 90% to staking participants and 10% to the treasury. It creates no new spending program or validator subsidy.
Once activated, the maximum issuance rate would decline each epoch—a recurring network operating interval—rather than fall in a single cut. The schedule reaches 1.6% at month 24. The grace period after ratification is intended to give wallets, exchanges, custodians and staking providers time to update disclosures.
The lower reward figures are projections, not promised yields. If the share of supply staked falls, the remaining stakers divide the reward allocation among less stake, raising their yield relative to the fixed-participation model.
The proposal also acknowledges pressure on smaller operators. Its model estimates that 24 of 405 pools would lose the ability to cover machine costs from commission and owner-staking income at the target rate, using a $4.30 NEAR price and monthly cost assumptions of $500 for block producers and $200 for standard nodes. That is a modeled loss of self-sufficiency, not a forecast that those validators will shut down.
Validator operators retain a separate decision over implementation. The proposal explicitly says House of Stake cannot bind them; adoption through the standard protocol upgrade process is required. Its implementation plan calls for quarterly reports comparing realized issuance with the schedule and tracking validator-set health.