NEAR community vote approves proposal to reduce the annual maximum inflation rate from 2.5% to 1.6%

NEAR Protocol's on-chain governance body, House of Stake, has voted to approve a proposal cutting the token's maximum annual inflation rate from 2.5% to 1.6%, to be phased in over 24 months. The proposal must first be approved by the House of Stake Security Council, after which a roughly 90-day grace period applies before it becomes binding once validators adopt it via a protocol upgrade. Following implementation, the issuance rate will decline gradually each epoch until reaching 1.6% at month 24, with official quarterly reports tracking actual issuance against the schedule. The reduction lowers NEAR's new token supply growth by 36% at maximum issuance, a potentially deflationary-leaning shift for staking economics and validator rewards. What to watch: Security Council approval timing, the 90-day grace period, and validator adoption of the protocol upgrade.