Introduction
The NEAR Economics and Security working group conducted a survey to gauge the community’s sentiment on NEAR’s token issuance, specifically the current inflation rate and staking rewards. The survey results are intended to drive discussion and should be used for informational purposes only.
Who is the NEAR Economics and Security Working Group?
We are a group of endorsed delegates with the mission to steward communication between the NEAR community, relevant stakeholders, and Gauntlet — focusing on the implications of a potential reduction of validator issuance on decentralization and validator sustainability
Today’s Inflation Landscape: Quick Facts
- 1B NEAR was minted at Genesis in 2020
- NEAR’s annual inflation rate is 5% (50M NEAR)
- 4.5% total goes to validators/stakers
- 0.5% total goes to the treasury
- Said differently, 90% of the annual inflation rate goes to validators/stakers (45M NEAR) & 10% of the annual inflation rate goes to the treasury (5M NEAR)
- Most recent epoch’s staking APY, at the time of writing, is 9.50%
Survey Results
Who Responded
- 58 total respondents
- Includes validators, developers, tokenholders, investors, delegates, founders, and community contributors
- Most respondents have been involved with NEAR for over 2 years
Community Preferences: Ideal Targets
Respondents generally preferred lower inflation, with the median ideal around 3%. Respondents favored staking APYs around 6–7%, which is higher than current levels. This may reflect interest in improving staking incentives—even if total issuance is reduced.
There is strong alignment on keeping treasury minting below 0.5% annually.
What Matters Most When Changing Issuance?
Respondents strongly prioritized token value appreciation, while other priorities like validator economics and decentralization revealed a wider range of opinions.
Alternative Mechanisms (If Staking Rewards Are Reduced)
When asked about alternative mechanisms to consider if staking rewards are reduced, common suggestions included:
- Reallocation from gas fees (26 mentions)
- Targeted validator subsidies (21)
- Reallocation from treasury (18)
- Increased lock-up periods (12)
- “None” (10 respondents preferred no replacement)
Community Commentary
The most common open-text theme was token value appreciation. Many respondents emphasized that any changes to issuance should support NEAR’s long-term price performance, liquidity, and market appeal.
A smaller number of respondents raised concerns about:
- Treasury sustainability, cautioning against underfunding ecosystem initiatives
- Validator decentralization, with suggestions to subsidize or support smaller/community-run validators if rewards are reduced
These qualitative responses reinforce the quantitative results—showing strong alignment around price-related incentives, and more diverse views on decentralization and treasury tradeoffs.
Where Do We Go From Here?
These results suggest a strong appetite for revisiting NEAR’s issuance model—with a focus on reducing inflation, preserving validator incentives, and ensuring economic sustainability.
This data can guide the NEAR Economics and Security Working Group in refining validator rewards and inflation parameters, assessing the tradeoffs between economic sustainability and network security, and supporting proposals that strengthen the protocol’s long-term resilience.