NEAR Holders Voted to Cut Its Inflation to 1.6%, Below Solana’s. Could Less New Supply Lift NEAR’s Price?

NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO:NEAR) holders made a significant decision. They voted to reduce NEAR inflation—the rate at which new NEAR tokens are created— from 2.5% to 1.6%. NEAR’s on-chain governance group, known as the House of Stake, approved the decision, finalized on November 2, 2026. The changes will be implemented gradually over two years.

Despite this positive news, NEAR’s price has not reacted as hoped. It trades at $3.83, down 3.4% over the past 24 hours and 16.9% in the last week. This current price represents a steep decline of about 81% from its all-time high of $20.44 in January 2022.

NEAR has a total supply of approximately 1.31 billion tokens. At the existing price of $3.83, the previous inflation cap would allow for up to 32.8 million new NEAR tokens to be created each year, totaling around $126 million. In contrast, the new cap permits up to 21 million tokens, worth about $80 million, leading to 11.8 million fewer tokens annually—roughly a $45 million reduction in new supply. However, these figures are caps, as the actual amount of new NEAR produced depends on how much NEAR gets staked.

HSP-029 Cuts New NEAR Supply, but the First Step Is Months Away

In a proof-of-stake (PoS) network like NEAR, new tokens are minted to reward validators—computers that verify transactions—and stakers, those who lock up their NEAR to support a validator. The new proposal, HSP-029, maintains the current distribution model, allowing most new tokens to go to stakers while a smaller portion goes to the protocol’s treasury.

Inflation will decrease gradually, with small adjustments made in each epoch, a cycle the network undergoes regularly. Proponents argue that NEAR has matured enough to rely less on new token issuance as a reward mechanism, and the change also aims to minimize dilution for holders who do not stake their tokens, allowing their share of the network to shrink less.

While the vote is binding, the network’s settings will not change immediately. HSP-029 still requires Security Council review, a 90-day grace period, and a protocol upgrade that validators must adopt. Thus, initial changes may be months away, and full implementation may take around two years after that first step.

This inflation cut marks NEAR’s second adjustment, following a previous reduction of maximum issuance to 2.5% in October 2025. The new plan arose after NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin withdrew a proposal for a Sovereign Fund in August, which would have necessitated a decision-making body for fund allocation.

Solana’s Inflation Is Higher Now, but Its 1.5% Floor Is Below NEAR’s New Cap

As of June, Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) had a higher inflation rate of 3.82%, surpassing both NEAR’s new and old limits. However, Solana plans to gradually decrease its inflation rate toward a long-term floor of 1.5%, making it lower than NEAR’s new cap.

Solana’s holders also participated in a similar voting process. On August 28, validators approved a proposal to double its disinflation rate—the annual pace at which its inflation decreases—with 67.0% of voters in favor, slightly above the required 66.67%. If this proposal is executed, Solana may reach its target inflation floor by the first half of 2029, instead of 2032 under its current schedule. At that point, Solana could create new tokens more slowly than NEAR at its new inflation cap.

Past Supply Cuts Haven’t Lifted SOL or NEAR Prices

Historical data from Solana shows that inflation changes don’t always correlate with price increases. SOL closed at $109 on August 27, the day before the vote, dropped to $104 by the end of voting, and then rose to $122 by September 25—an increase of 17.3%. However, it then fell again, and SOL currently trades at $93, down about 23.9% over the past month and 25.7% in 2026.

NEAR’s experience follows a similar trend. After the cut to 2.5% in October 2025, NEAR’s price fell to a yearly low of $0.96 on February 11, then recovered substantially in 2026, rising 157% despite the unchanged inflation cap. This suggests that demand predominantly drove the rally.

Currently, NEAR’s primary revenue source comes from NEAR Intents, a cross-chain trading system where users specify trades and external parties, called solvers, compete to fulfill them. In October, Intents recorded its highest revenue month to date, generating $2.4 million from $3.9 billion in 30-day trading volume. Intents revenue could support NEAR buybacks, potentially increasing demand for the token.

However, HSP-029 focuses solely on supply reduction and makes no promises of new buyer commitments, fee burning, or funding for Intent-related buybacks. Additionally, cutting inflation will lower staking rewards, as the proposal’s analysis notes, raising concerns that some validator pools might struggle to meet operating costs. If lower rewards discourage stakers, more tokens could end up for sale on the open market, further impacting NEAR’s price.

Could Reduced NEAR Inflation Boost Its Price?

Reduced NEAR inflation is unlikely to significantly raise NEAR’s price in the near term, and it may need additional support to make an impact. The network is adopting a clearer token policy, which means less dilution for non-stakers. The authors estimate that the phased changes over the first two years could save about as much as one full year at the new cap would. However, NEAR could still mint up to about $80 million annually, compared with the best monthly revenue from Intents, which was $2.4 million. This shows that buyer presence matters far more than a slower supply rate.

Currently, NEAR is trading below its 20-day average of $4.68 and its 50-day average of $4.59—about 20% higher—but it remains above its 200-day average of $2.55, indicating a longer-term upward trend. If Intents revenue surpasses October’s $2.4 million in November and validators embrace the upgrade after the 90-day grace period, supply and demand dynamics could work in NEAR’s favor. Conversely, if Intents revenue declines and NEAR continues to trade below $4.59, it would suggest that the supply reduction isn’t effectively driving the price up.

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