Polkadot Proposes Cutting Active Validator Set From 600 to 320 by End of 2026 and Revising Rewards

The Polkadot community has proposed reducing the active validator set from 600 to 320 through three referendums, while also discussing changes to validator rewards. According to Foresight News, the reductions would proceed in stages to 500, 400 and 320, with one week between each vote, and are targeted for completion by the end of 2026. The first on-chain referendum, Ref 1966, has been submitted; each step requires Fellowship whitelisting and approval by token holders. A separate discussion proposal would keep each validator’s budget at about 57.7 DOT per day during the reductions, while lowering validator incentives’ share of the allocation pool from 22.6% to about 12.1%. The remaining funds would stay in the pool as a reserve. Validators are also expected to become Metanodes, providing block production and RPC services for Asset Hub and People Chain in addition to validating on the relay chain. The proposal recommends increasing validator budgets after Metanodes launch, with one portion covering operating costs at $2,000 per node per month and another rewarding validators based on their own DOT stake. It uses 30,000 DOT in self-stake and a 30% annual rate as reference figures. Both portions would initially be paid in DOT. The reward plan remains under discussion and would require approval through a governance vote.