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NEAR passes HSP-029, cuts max annual issuance from 2.5% to 1.6%

NEAR House of Stake proposal HSP-029 passed Nov 2 with ~3.29M veNEAR in favour, lowering the issuance cap to 1.6%; staking yield projected to fall from 5.27% to 3.37% after a 24-month ramp.

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NEAR Protocol's House of Stake approved HSP-029 on November 2, 2026, cutting the chain's maximum annual token issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% — a 36% reduction in the ceiling. The proposal passed with about 3.29 million veNEAR in favour. A ~90-day grace period begins once NEAR's Security Council ratifies the vote and validators adopt the protocol upgrade, followed by a 24-month ramp to the new cap. Projected gross staking yield falls from about 5.27% to 3.37%. Primary source: NEAR House of Stake vote on HSP-029 (voting opened Oct 19, closed Nov 2). Coverage: Crypto Briefing.

What happened

HSP-029 — titled as a cut to NEAR's maximum annual issuance — was proposed on October 7 by Sal Ternullo, CEO of SVRN. The House of Stake voting window ran Oct 19 → Nov 2. The final tally the proposal cleared is ~3.29 million veNEAR in favour; dissenting veNEAR share has not been published alongside the headline number.

The change replaces the earlier cap. NEAR's previous reduction — from 5% to 2.5% — took effect in late October 2025. HSP-029 is the second ceiling cut inside 12 months, and together with the 2025 change the maximum issuance envelope is now less than one-third of the pre-2025 setting.

Mechanism — the two steps between vote and effect

The proposal is explicit that governance approval alone does not change issuance. Two further gates must clear:

  1. Security Council ratification of the House of Stake vote.
  2. Validators adopt the standard protocol upgrade containing the new issuance curve.

A ~90-day grace period then opens before the ramp begins. The ramp itself runs for 24 months, stepping daily minting down from the current regime toward the 1.6% ceiling. The split between stakers and treasury stays at 90/10, so the treasury's share shrinks proportionally with total issuance.

The proposal includes no new validator subsidies and does not alter the fee-burn mechanics. HSP-029 is a pure issuance-ceiling move.

Numbers

  • Issuance cap today: 2.5% annual max (set late Oct 2025)
  • Issuance cap after HSP-029 ramp: 1.6% annual max
  • Reduction in ceiling: −36%
  • Vote close: Nov 2, 2026
  • veNEAR in favour: ~3.29 million
  • Grace period after Security Council ratification + validator upgrade: ~90 days
  • Ramp duration: 24 months
  • Daily minting now vs. at full ramp: ~89,500 NEAR → ~57,300 NEAR
  • NEAR not issued over 2 years (modelled): ~11.8 million
  • NEAR not issued over 6 years (modelled): ~66 million
  • Projected gross staking yield: ~5.27% → ~3.37%
  • Staker/treasury split: 90/10 (unchanged)
  • Primary source: HSP-029 on NEAR's House of Stake (voting Oct 19 → Nov 2)

What to watch

  1. Security Council ratification — the next gate. Without ratification the proposal cannot proceed to validator adoption.
  2. Validator upgrade of the protocol release carrying the new issuance curve, and the share of stake running the upgraded client at activation.
  3. Validator economics: with gross yield heading toward 3.37%, operators running thin margins (small validators, delegators dependent on compounding rewards) face pressure. HSP-029 adds no subsidies, so marginal validators are expected to consolidate or exit.
  4. Delegator behaviour: whether the ~$3 billion currently staked on NEAR — about 46% of circulating supply per Bitwise's October read — contracts in response to lower nominal yield, or whether real yield (nominal yield minus issuance dilution) tightens the result.
  5. Treasury runway: the House of Stake 10% share shrinks with total issuance. Watch whether a follow-up proposal adjusts the split to protect ecosystem spending.

Context

HSP-029 is the second step in a cap-tightening sequence that began with the 5% → 2.5% change in late 2025. The economic argument the proposer and modelling groups make is familiar: a lower issuance ceiling raises the share of staking yield that comes from protocol fees rather than dilution of non-stakers.

The cut lands in a year where several high-TPS L1s have revisited validator economics against the backdrop of MEV share and re-staking altering yield composition. On NEAR specifically, the previous 2025 cut did not visibly reduce the staking ratio, which Bitwise reports has held near 46% through October 2026.

The pattern is also visible across validator-rewarded chains in 2026: Cosmos Hub, Avalanche and Celestia have had similar debates about issuance ceilings in forum threads during the year. HSP-029 is the first of these to pass a binding vote and reach a dated grace-period start.

What this is not: a change the market feels at activation. The 24-month ramp means the effective daily issuance curve shifts slowly. The visible effect for stakers lands in 2027–2028, assuming Security Council ratification and validator adoption proceed on the current path.

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