NEAR quietly changed the inflation rate, even though the community vote didn't pass, it still went online? This move is a bit aggressive.

A couple of days ago, the NEAR protocol made a big move: it directly cut the annual inflation rate from 5% to 2.4%, which means issuing 60 million fewer coins each year. It sounds like a good thing, but here comes the problem—

The community vote did not pass. The governance vote submitted by the official received only a 45% support rate, far below the threshold requirement of 66.67%. According to the rules, this matter should be dropped.

But the NEAR core team is still online.

This is explosive. The well-known staking service provider Chorus One directly criticized: this is “destroying the integrity of governance” and has created a “dangerous precedent.” Chorus One even called on other validators to temporarily refrain from upgrading their nodes, which is a form of indirect strike protest.

What is the problem with this matter?

1. Governance Failure: Democratic voting is merely a formality, the core team has a veto power.
2. Inflationary pressure transfer: The release of new coins has decreased, but staking rewards have also declined.
3. Poor signal: Once centralized decision-making sets a precedent, anything can be done afterwards.

On the surface, NEAR is optimizing the economic model, but in reality, it exposes the issue of power distribution. If even a major issue like changing inflation can be bypassed without a vote, then decentralized governance truly becomes a formality.

Stakers and validators are now caught in the middle: Do you believe in the subsequent upgrades?