Will the NEAR protocol survive after this critical vote? Will the validators leave?

It’s hard to talk about crypto AI without mentioning the NEAR Protocol. Last year, the NEAR protocol really took off thanks to Nvidia and everything the chipset maker was planning to do. That momentum was supposed to keep NEAR USDT rising for most of this year, but the market had other plans.

So far, NEAR price is getting hit. As for the price, there is nothing to smile about. NEAR USDT is down -52% year-to-date while the sellers are relentless. In the last month alone, NEAR crypto is almost -30%pushing prices to critical support levels.

For optimists, however, every low point can offer tickets to buy now that AI is here to stay, and the protocols powering these solutions stand to gain enormously. As of the end of October 2025, the NEAR Protocol is among the biggest crypto AI projectswith a market capitalization of more than $2.7 billion. Collectively, all AI crypto tokens are worth over $26 billion, an increase of almost -5% in the last 24 hours.

(Fountain: Coingecko)

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NEAR Protocol Must Sail and Emerge Stronger From This Vote

It is true that if the NEAR protocol stays true to its course, the network would easily become one of the most valuable, even changing the high-flying AI platform ChainOpera and the ubiquitous Bittensor. Only time will tell.

However, in the short term, the NEAR Protocol should emerge stronger from this controversial vote. Validators are currently voting on a proposal that will see the blockchain halve network rewards, i.e. -50% inflation, from +5% to +2.5%.

As things stand, the NEAR Protocol has capped its maximum inflation rate at +5%, which, as expected, dilutes the total supply over time. However, this is necessary. The network will only be secure if there are many validators to ensure that it is decentralized and trustworthy.

With the platform maturing, HOT Protocol and LiNEAR Protocol posted on the NEAR Protocol forum that it would be ideal for the network to halve the inflation rate to +2.5%.

The halving part is now part of the NEAR Protocol agenda to improve its token economy. First, they will cap annual NEAR emissions at +2.5%, reducing inflation and ensuring supply is more predictable, even scarce.

The NEAR ecosystem is collaborating on a major tokenomics update

Building on 5 years of mainnet success, NEAR is entering its next major phase of growth. NEAR now supports multi-billion dollar volumes, powers cross-chain liquidity layer for privacy-preserving assets,… pic.twitter.com/27OU0Y8Maw

– NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) October 21, 2025

Additionally, through HPS-002, there will be a new support system for smaller validators. The idea here is to ensure that the network is sufficiently decentralized. But this will not be enough. To further incentivize the HODLing culture, the NEAR Foundation is enhancing veNEAR incentives for NEAR participants.

(Fountain: stake house)

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Not everyone is happy: Will NEAR protocol validators leave?

As optimistic as this proposal is, not everyone is happy. Most of the opposition comes from large validators and staking providers. Obviously, this lot will lose significant revenue if the vote passes.

In X, one validator, Chorus One, urges all other validators not to vote or update. They claim that the NEAR Foundation brought down the protocol, causing a “serious governance problem” that sets a “dangerous precedent” that eventually undermines the integrity of the protocol in the future.

NEAR governance proposal

We would like to publicly share our concerns regarding a serious governance issue currently occurring in the @NEARProtocol block chain.

— Chorus One (@ChorusOne) October 22, 2025

Obviously there will be a security issue if other validators decide not to update. As disruptive as this proposal is to revenue, others think this halving event should pass.

On X, one reviewer said that validators will be the ones affected and it is understandable that they do not want to lose money. In their view, validators are conflicted voters, and as a survival instinct, self-interest will continue to dominate, leading to status quo bias.

> "We believe this sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the integrity of NEAR."

I love you, my Chorus One friends, but let’s be real: the reason you’re complaining is because your Near income would be cut in half.

Main problems I see with that reasoning:

1. Validators… https://t.co/bdGacCJE6t

– 0xLouisT (@0xLouisT) October 22, 2025

In general, supporters believe that this proposal forces the NEAR Protocol to seek real use and not overly incentivize network participation, especially validators, through brochures.

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