The Near Protocol network will vote, starting on October 21, to reduce the NEAR NEAR $2.21 24h volatility: 0.7% Market cap: $2.76 B Vol. 24h: $219.66 M token emission from a 5% to a 2.5% annual rate over the supply, effectively doing its first inflation halving—similarly to what happens to Bitcoin BTC $108 309 24h volatility: 0.2% Market cap: $2.16 T Vol. 24h: $108.99 B every four years.

Voting will take place on the node layer, with validators choosing to upgrade the nearcore software to release 2.9.0. The release was published earlier on October 21 on the nearcore repository on GitHub, with the explanation of how it will occur.

In summary, this release only includes the emission halving (from 5% to 2.5%) and the activation parameters—being fully backwards compatible—causing no harm to validators who choose not to upgrade. Upgrading casts a “YES” vote, while not upgrading casts a “NO” vote. This proposal requires an 80% approval, or that 80% of the network’s active stake is delegated to NEAR block producers running nearcore v2.9.0.

The activation is planned for October 28 at 1 a.m. UTC, upgrading the protocol version from 80 to 81 at the end of this epoch. In case the threshold is not met by then, voting will extend for 23 more days, totaling 30 days to upgrade.

By the end of the 30 days, the vote will resolve as a “NO,” keeping NEAR’s inflation at the current 5% tail emission if less than 80% of validators upgrade. Reaching the needed percentage at any moment post October 28 will activate the halving—reducing inflation to a 2.5% tail emission—two epochs after the requirement is met.

“The current 5% rate, originally designed to accelerate early-stage participation, now introduces unnecessary dilution. At the same time, it reduces the incentive for holders to engage in DeFi and other productive activities within the NEAR ecosystem. (…) This more sustainable inflation model aims to encourage greater on-chain participation in the NEAR ecosystem,” says the proposal’s rationale.

Near Protocol’s nearcore v2.9.0 release tag | Source: GitHub

As of this writing, Near Protocol’s native token, NEAR, is trading at $2.34, within a price range that dates back to early 2025, between two significant pressure zones. The support zone ranges between $1.80 and $2.05, with significant buying pressure; while the resistance zone ranges between $3.05 and $3.40, with significant selling pressure.

Moreover, NEAR is currently trading below the 50-day exponential moving average (1D50EMA), a popular trend indicator, suggesting the token is now in bear territory and needs to break out of this indicator first before moving to the one-year resistance zone.

NEAR daily (1D) price chart, as of October 21, 2025 | Source: TradingView

Interestingly, cutting NEAR’s supply inflation by half could alleviate the selling pressure mid-term, weakening the currently active resistance zone. This same effect is seen on Bitcoin every four years, following the halving event and favoring the bulls. Bitcoin’s most recent halving occurred on April 20, 2024, and BTC reached a new all-time high seven months later, in November 2024.

Near Protocol has been making waves in crypto in 2025 thanks to the NEAR Intents protocols connecting more than 20 different blockchains with decentralized, intent-based transactions, becoming a popular choice for privacy enthusiasts to acquire and spend Zcash ZEC $276.5 24h volatility: 8.5% Market cap: $4.53 B Vol. 24h: $929.90 M .

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