Near Protocol (NEAR)
Unlock Schedule
Near Protocol (NEAR) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
The unlock chart above provides a clear visual overview of the Near Protocol (NEAR) token release schedule, showing when and how tokens enter circulation across investor, team, treasury, and community allocations. Understanding these tokenomics dynamics is critical for evaluating potential supply pressure, inflation impact, and market liquidity over time — key factors that can influence NEAR price performance.
Each color segment in the chart corresponds to a specific allocation group described in the Allocations section below. Underlying assumptions and data models used to reconstruct this schedule are explained in detail under Assumptions, while broader utility insights and token use cases are covered in Tokenomics & Utility.
Tokenomics & Utility
The NEAR token has three main roles:
- Fees: Users pay gas in NEAR. By design, 70% of transaction fees are burned, and up to 30% can be paid to the smart contracts invoked (a built‑in “contract reward” to fund open‑source development). This design can offset issuance when network usage is high.
- Staking and security: Near uses proof‑of‑stake; validators and delegators stake NEAR and earn protocol rewards. Near’s issuance has historically targeted around 5% annually, with roughly 90% of that going to validators and ~10% to the protocol treasury. Rewards are distributed every epoch (about twice per day).
- Storage and accounts: Contracts pay storage costs in NEAR, and the account model supports access keys and permissions so apps can sponsor actions or simplify onboarding.
At genesis the supply was set at 1 billion NEAR, with allocations to grants, the foundation endowment, early ecosystem, public sale, and private rounds. Since then, fee burns and emissions continue to shape circulating supply over time. Overall, Near Protocol tokenomics aim to balance sustainable security (staking rewards) with user affordability (low fees) and developer incentives (contract rewards).
Assumptions
- NEAR supply is uncapped; ongoing issuance is ~5% gross annually with 90% to validators and 10% to the protocol treasury, minus fee burns.
Official economics specify 5% issuance and fee burn; no hard max supply.
- Validator/treasury issuance amounts were modeled with annual compounding and zero fee burn.
Primary sources provide rates but not epoch-by-epoch totals; compounding aligns with observed total supply trends.
- Backers and Small Backers lockup splits across 12/24/36 months were estimated 20%/60%/20%.
Official docs state 12–36 month range with majority at 24 months; exact tranche weights not disclosed.
- Community Sale split between 12‑ and 24‑month options modeled 50/50 of the non‑Option‑1 amount.
Official docs confirm up to 25M unlocked and the rest in 12/24‑month lockups; no precise option mix published.
- Early Ecosystem includes an 80M immediate unlock provision and a 30M 6‑month program; remainder modeled as 12‑month linear.
Official post mentions these sub-allocations but not exact timing for all residual grants.
- Genesis allocation percentages are applied to a 1,000,000,000 NEAR genesis supply for absolute token amounts.
Primary materials specify 1B genesis and category percentages.
- Team lockup uses a 12‑month cliff from Phase II with linear vesting over the remaining 36 months.
Official distribution post and lockups documentation describe a 4‑year lock with a 12‑month cliff.
- 1. https://pages.near.org/blog/near-token-supply-and-distribution/
- 2. https://pages.near.org/blog/near-protocol-economics/
- 3. https://pages.near.org/papers/the-official-near-white-paper/
- 4. https://pages.near.org/blog/staking-rewards-are-live/
- 5. https://coinlist.co/near
- 6. https://pages.near.org/blog/the-near-token-sale-and-unforkable-community/
- 7. https://wiki.near.org/overview/tokenomics/lockups
Allocations
Description
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Near Protocol is a community-run cloud computing platform that uses a layer-one blockchain with high performance, security, and interoperability. It supports EVM smart contracts, native tokenization, and decentralized identity services for building web3 applications and ecosystems.
| Sector: | Layer 1 |
| Blockchain: | Near |