NEAR Launches Vote to Reduce Annual Issuance Rate to 1.6% Over 24 Months

A NEAR ecosystem governance proposal, HSP-029—sponsored by SVRN CEO Sal Ternullo—has entered the voting phase. Its core provision is a phased reduction of NEAR’s maximum annual issuance rate from the current 2.5% to 1.6%. This adjustment will be implemented linearly over 24 months at a rate of approximately 3.75 basis points per epoch, while preserving the existing 90/10 token allocation split between stakers and the treasury. If approved by vote, the proposal includes a 90-day transition grace period before the issuance-rate reduction mechanism takes full effect. Estimates indicate the plan would reduce NEAR issuance by roughly 11.8 million tokens over two years and by approximately 66.1 million tokens over six years—equivalent to a 4.36% contraction in total supply relative to current levels. Correspondingly, the annualized staking yield would gradually decline from its current 5.268% to 3.372%. The author notes that