NEAR Protocol proposes 30M token fund to cut inflation
NEAR Protocol co-founder and NEAR Foundation CEO Illia Polosukhin proposed creating a protocol sovereign fund on Aug. 3, using roughly 30 million NEAR as its initial capital base.
- 30 million NEAR would seed the sovereign fund, worth roughly $57 million at current prices.
- Fund yield would finance validators, MPC providers and other ecosystem public goods under governance oversight.
- Polosukhin wants protocol revenue converted into NEAR rather than burned for temporary supply reductions alone.
- House of Stake delegates would participate through existing mechanisms, but no formal vote is scheduled.
- Stakeholders have two weeks to comment before supporters consider formal governance steps or implementation details.
At the token’s price of about $1.8 at press time, the proposed treasury would be worth approximately $57 million.
The plan would direct current and future protocol revenue into a NEAR denominated fund. Part of the yield would pay for network security, validator support, multiparty computation providers and other public goods. Polosukhin described the forum post as a discussion proposal, not an approved mandate.
NEAR sovereign fund would begin with 30 million tokens
The proposed fund would combine the existing protocol treasury, revenue already earned and future revenue selected through governance. Rather than immediately spending or burning incoming assets, the treasury would hold NEAR and seek returns through strategies that governance would later define.
Polosukhin compared the structure with sovereign wealth funds in Norway and Singapore and with university endowments. Those models preserve a capital base while using part of its returns for recurring costs. Unlike those examples, the proposal says NEAR’s fund would hold the network’s native token and measure returns in NEAR.
In addition, the proposal forms part of NEAR’s broader tokenomics changes. The network cut its inflation rate from about 5% to roughly 2.5% in late 2025. It also activated an Intents fee switch in February 2026 that directs revenue toward NEAR purchases.
Polosukhin argued that burning revenue offers only a temporary reduction in supply. He instead wants revenue used to acquire NEAR, generate yield and create a continuing funding source. “If this proves to be successful,” he said, the network could gradually reduce inflation and potentially move toward a fixed token supply. That outcome remains conditional and has not been approved.
The fund’s returns could support the Validator Support Program, MPC providers and other services. House of Stake delegates could participate through existing delegation systems, while governance would set revenue scope, spending percentages and operating parameters.
Governance must still define investment risks
The proposal does not specify which yield strategies the fund would use. Early forum responses asked whether the treasury would rely on staking, lending, protocol owned liquidity, stablecoins or other assets. One commenter warned that NEAR’s decentralized finance markets may not absorb such a large treasury without compressing returns or increasing risk.
Those questions matter because staking rewards largely come from token issuance rather than external revenue. Lending, liquidity provision and leveraged strategies could add counterparty, smart contract, liquidation or market risks. The discussion called for exposure limits, independent oversight and transparent performance reporting against a NEAR denominated benchmark.
House of Stake is positioned as NEAR’s economic governance body. Its mandate covers treasury management, inflation, fees and incentive design. However, the sovereign fund post has not entered a confirmed vote or execution process.
Consultation lasts two weeks before any formal decision
Polosukhin invited validators, tokenholders and other stakeholders to comment for two weeks. After that period, supporters could develop detailed governance parameters and decide whether to advance a formal proposal. No launch date, target yield, asset allocation or final spending formula has been announced.
The proposal follows other attempts to connect network usage with demand for NEAR. As crypto.news reported, the protocol recently introduced staking based payments that convert locked tokens into monthly AI compute credits.
In related coverage, NEAR has also positioned its network and Intents system as settlement infrastructure for cross chain activity and autonomous AI agents. Those initiatives provide additional sources of fees or token utility, although their future revenue remains uncertain.
