NEAR Token Falls 7% After Proposal to Cut Annual Issuance Passes

Near Protocol’s NEAR token fell roughly 7% on Tuesday, even after the community approved a proposal to gradually lower its maximum annual issuance rate from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months. According to Cointelegraph, NEAR was trading at $3.82 as of 11:06 am UTC, bringing its weekly decline to roughly 13%, based on CoinMarketCap data. The proposal, HSP-029, passed on Monday with support from 99.9% of participating voting power. About 3.28 million vote-escrowed NEAR (veNEAR) tokens were cast in favor, according to the NEAR House of Stake governance platform. The planned issuance reduction is intended to lower long-term token dilution, while projected gross staking yields would decline from 5.2% to 3.3% by the end of the 24-month period. The proposal estimates that issuance would be reduced by 11.8 million NEAR over two years and 66.1 million NEAR over six years. The change is not yet final: the Security Council has a 14-day veto window. If the proposal is not vetoed, it will be ratified, followed by a 90-day grace period before the reduction begins. Validators must also adopt the required technical upgrade for implementation.