NEAR Protocol price: Nov. 2 vote targets 1.6% issuance rate

The NEAR Protocol price is being assessed after a governance decision that could slow the token's future supply growth. On Nov. 2, 2026, NEAR's House of Stake approved HSP-029, a proposal to reduce the maximum annual issuance rate from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months.

The vote advances the change but does not activate it. The proposal states that the House of Stake decision must be followed by Security Council review and ratification. A 90-day grace period is then planned before validators adopt the required protocol upgrade. The revised issuance schedule would become binding only after those steps.

What HSP-029 changes

HSP-029 changes one protocol parameter and keeps the existing 90/10 distribution of newly issued NEAR between staking participants and the protocol treasury. The reduction is designed as a smooth, per-epoch ramp rather than an immediate cut. The proposal describes a decline of roughly 3.75 basis points per month until the 1.6% target is reached in month 24.

Modeling published with the proposal estimates that the ramp would avoid 11.8 million NEAR of issuance over two years and 66.1 million over six years compared with an unchanged 2.5% ceiling. The same material projects gross staking yield declining from 5.268% to 3.372%, assuming the measured staking participation rate remains unchanged.

Investor relevance and trade-offs

For holders who do not stake, slower issuance would reduce dilution if the schedule is implemented. Stakers would receive fewer newly issued tokens, making the effect more mixed: the token supply would grow more slowly, while the nominal staking yield would be lower. The proposal also discloses that some validator operators could lose economic self-sufficiency at the target rate, leaving network participation as an implementation risk.

The NEAR Protocol price may remain sensitive to expectations around token supply, staking economics and the execution of the upgrade, but the governance decision alone does not establish a market outcome. The vote is therefore best viewed as a policy step rather than a completed change to network issuance.

Implementation remains the key milestone

The NEAR Forum proposal is marked as succeeded and sets out a one-parameter change, while The Block reported on Nov. 3 that the Security Council review, grace period and validator upgrade were still outstanding. Investors tracking NEAR should distinguish the completed governance vote from the later technical activation of the schedule.

More coverage is available on the NEAR Protocol topic page.