Ethereum community floats EIP-8361 to curb staking incentives as participation nears 50%

Members of the Ethereum community have put forward a new improvement proposal, EIP-8361, titled "Tapered Issuance Burn," seeking to revise ETH's issuance dynamics to reduce centralization and dilution risks linked to an increasingly high share of staked ETH. The proposal says that as of April 2026, more than one-third of ETH's total supply was staked, and the ratio has continued to climb. Under the current issuance curve, staking yields would stay above roughly 1.5% even if all ETH were staked, leaving no effective "shutdown mechanism" to dampen staking incentives. EIP-8361 would burn a portion of validators' theoretical rewards each epoch, with the burn rate rising alongside the staking ratio. As staking approaches about 50%, net staking yields would taper toward zero. Under the model, issuance would peak when the staking rate is around 20%, with annual issuance near 0.5%, then fall to zero once staking reaches 50%. Paired with EIP-1559 and blob fee burning, the proposal suggests ETH supply could enter deflationary territory more often over time.