On July 6, the NEAR Protocol's on-chain governance body, House of Stake, approved proposal HSP-027, which eliminates gas fee rebates for developers that have been in place since the protocol's launch.
This change means that all network gas fees will be burned rather than partially returned to smart contract owners, potentially activating a deflationary mechanism without altering the overall value accumulation model within the network.
Under the current system, 30% of gas fees generated by smart contract calls go to the contract owner, while the remaining 70% is burned. Following the implementation of the changes, expected around August 2026 with the release of nearcore v2.14, the rebate will drop to 0%. This was reported by a delegate known as Vini B, who participated in the vote.
NEAR is making another change to its tokenomics
the developer gas rebate is being removed
expected to August 2026 (nearcore v2.14)> before: 30% of all gas fees paid to smart contract calls were allocated to the smart contract owner, while 70% were burned
> after: the gas… https://t.co/91SQ5NV9xg pic.twitter.com/ImUezI6Aw6
— Vini B |「 thecoding 」 (@vinibarbosabr) July 6, 2026
He provided the final results for proposal HSP-027: 46 votes representing 4.66 million veNEAR were in favor, while two votes representing 1,819 veNEAR were against.
The Near DevHub account highlighted this vote in early July, warning creators:
"Do not factor this gas bonus into your dApp budget anymore."
In the House of Stake, the measure was described as aimed at reducing "protocol complexity and misaligned incentives for developers."
Great to see this passing.
This is removing something that doesn't work to keep NEAR Protocol simpler and cleaner going forward.
Initially I designed developer gas rebate as an incentive for developers to build components that others will reuse.
But as adoption of NEAR… https://t.co/6bzYUqqH9L
— Illia (root.near) (🇺🇦, ⋈) (@ilblackdragon) July 6, 2026
NEAR co-founder Ilya Polosukhin, who originally developed the rebate mechanism to incentivize developers, noted that the system no longer reflects how most NEAR-based applications monetize. He believes projects typically cover gas costs for users and generate revenue through spreads, subscriptions, or advertising.
He also mentioned an issue with accounting:
"The rebates were difficult to distinguish from regular user deposits."
Polosukhin characterized this vote as a test of the House of Stake's authority over key economic parameters of NEAR, stating that it is a "great test" ahead of future proposals, and that he is "pleased to see clear governance of NEAR's economy."
Recall that in January, Vitalik Buterin criticized current DAOs and called for their reform.