NEAR’s staking ratio holds at 46% with $3B staked, Bitwise reports

NEAR cut the rewards it pays stakers in half last year. Stakers, apparently, did not take it personally. Nearly 46% of all NEAR tokens remain staked, according to Bitwise. That works out to 596 million tokens worth $3 billion, and the staking ratio has stayed stable even after the network halved its issuance. The timing is notable. NEAR’s governance has opened voting on a proposal to cut issuance again, which makes this a live test of how far a network can trim rewards before participation starts to slip. What Bitwise found The figures come from Bitwise’s Q4 2026 Staking Report, released on October 20. The asset manager pegged NEAR’s staking ratio at 46%, with roughly 596 million tokens locked up. Those stakers are earning an average yield of 4.87%. For anyone new to staking: holders lock up tokens to help secure the network, and the protocol pays them in newly issued tokens for the effort. Independent network data largely backs Bitwise up. It shows a staking ratio between 45.7% and 46.1%, with roughly 590 to 598 million tokens staked, as of mid-to-late October 2026. That same data puts total yields in a range of 4.6% to 4.9% for mid-October. Bitwise’s 4.87% average sits comfortabl...