Hi everyone, it’s been a busy 24 hours, hasn’t it? Since things have moved quicker than anyone expected, I want to be as clear as possible about the status of NEAR’s circulating supply so everyone is on the same page about it. Here is some useful information:
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The blog post needs a refresh but is still mostly accurate about the bucketing of supply: NEAR Token Supply and Distribution – NEAR Protocol. It describes the intent of each bucket and its intended lockup horizon.
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The current circulating supply will look higher than the value indicated there because of two factors. First, many people haven’t claimed their tokens yet, so they will appear as unlocked until they are moved into lockups when people claim them (and the overwhelming majority of those will have lockups). Second, the setup of the network during prior months left a number of tokens delegated or stored in various accounts so these currently appear as unlocked too but are not intended to stay that way. The important thing is that, even though the circulating supply looks higher, its usage will still map to the categories described in the blog post once everything is settled.
Steps we are taking now to clarify and address all of these things:
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Updating the blog post to reflect the best circulating supply numbers (while acknowledging that the unclaimed tokens will always look a little weird). For clarity, the circulating supply is not expected to increase as a result of this along any of the short term horizons. Timeline: 1-2 days.
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Consolidating tokens into accounts that are easier to see and verify. That includes shifting delegated tokens so it’s clear where they’ve come from. This will result in a bunch of transfers and re-delegations on the network during the next few days. Timeline: 2-3 days.
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Providing a way to more easily verify for yourself what the lockups are on NF accounts and verify what happens there afterward. Will likely start as a simple mapping of account links. Timeline: ~1 week
To address some questions I’ve seen:
#Q: Of the tokens in categories which will be distributed by the NF, which ones are free for the NF to use now and which ones can it not use?
#A: As written in the blog post, the NF endowment has 100M tokens day 1, of which 50M have a 24-month linear lockup and 50M are free for any use on day 1. Other tokens held on behalf of other categories (for example unclaimed tokens) are not “free” to use even if they’re unlocked because they have a different purpose. Those will make their way to their end destinations and that typically means lockups, as described above.
#Q: When are block rewards being enabled?
#A: As per the Phase II launch post (The NEAR MainNet is now Unrestricted and Decentralized – NEAR Protocol), the network upgrade is expected to ship on Monday and be implemented by validators within 1-2 days of that happening. At that point, block rewards will be enabled.
I hope that helps!
- Please feel free to share this post in other channels or if you want to help other people answer questions about this stuff. I won’t be able to respond to most questions myself but will try to keep updates coming so everyone is well informed.
