NEAR Protocol co-founder proposes sovereign fund to reduce inflation and improve network sustainability

NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin proposed establishing a protocol sovereign fund on August 3, 2026, seeded with 30 million NEAR tokens (worth $53–$57 million) to generate yield for network security and public goods. The initiative aims to transition NEAR toward a fixed token supply and reduce inflation, which was already halved to 2.5% in late 2025. Concurrently, Bitwise updated its spot NEAR ETF filing, and improving macroeconomic conditions boosted NEAR's price by over 3% to $1.76.

NEAR sovereign wealth fund proposal

• ▪The proposal includes a two-week comment period for validators, token holders, and other stakeholders before any formal governance steps are taken.
• ▪The sovereign fund would generate yield from its holdings to cover costs for the Validator Support Program, Multi-Party Computation providers, and other public goods.
• ▪NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin proposed establishing a protocol sovereign fund on August 3, 2026, to support the ecosystem's public goods and long-term sustainability.
• ▪The proposed sovereign fund would launch with an initial capital of approximately 30 million NEAR tokens, valued between $53 million and $57 million.

NEAR token inflation reduction strategy

• ▪NEAR Protocol previously reduced its token inflation rate from approximately 5% to 2.5% in late 2025.
• ▪The proposed sovereign fund aims to gradually reduce effective inflation and transition the network toward a fixed maximum token supply.
• ▪NEAR Protocol activated an Intents fee switch in February 2026 to direct network revenue toward purchasing NEAR tokens.

Bitwise NEAR spot ETF filing

• ▪Bitwise filed an updated Form S-1/A registration statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed spot NEAR exchange-traded fund.
• ▪The updated Bitwise filing specifies the use of Coinbase Custody and BNY Mellon as institutional custodians for staking-related functions.

NEAR price technical indicators

• ▪The price of NEAR rose by approximately 3% to 3.5% over a 24-hour period following the proposal, trading around $1.76 to $1.80.
• ▪Technical indicators for NEAR on August 4, 2026, showed the price climbing above the Hull Moving Average near $1.74, with the Money Flow Index reaching around 86.

Cryptocurrency market sentiment improvement

• ▪The broader digital asset market experienced improved sentiment, encouraging traders to rotate capital into selected altcoins like NEAR.
• ▪Easing inflation concerns and lower oil prices improved macroeconomic risk appetite across financial markets, supporting cryptocurrency prices on August 4, 2026.