NEAR Cofounder Floats Sovereign Fund Plan to Curb Inflation

NEAR cofounder and NEAR Foundation CEO Illia Polosukhin on Aug. 4 outlined a proposal to set up a NEAR sovereign fund aimed at generating NEAR-denominated returns and lowering the network's real inflation rate. Under the plan, the fund would be capitalized with existing and future protocol treasuries and fed by current and future protocol revenues. Governance would set operating parameters, and protocol revenues within governance-approved ranges would be directed into the fund and converted into NEAR. Part of the resulting proceeds would be earmarked for validator incentives, MPC service providers, and other ecosystem public goods. Polosukhin said the fund could start with the current protocol treasury of about 30 million NEAR. Representatives from House of Stake could also join and share in returns via the existing delegation mechanism. If the initial rollout proves effective, NEAR could gradually shift more protocol revenues—and eventually a portion of token emissions—into the fund. The goal is to reduce real inflation while maintaining rewards for core validators and stakers. Over time, the fund could potentially cover all network security and public-goods spending, creating a path toward a fixed token supply. The proposal remains under discussion and is not binding. Polosukhin plans to collect feedback from validators, token holders, and community members over the next two weeks before deciding whether to move forward.