Solana Community Rejects SIMD-228 Proposal to Reduce Token Emissions

Solana validators have voted against the closely-watched SIMD-228 proposal, a plan that aimed to substantially reduce SOL token emissions by transitioning the network to dynamic staking-based emissions.

The proposal, authored by Tushar Jain and Vishal Kankani of Multicoin Capital, was introduced in January, with voting opening on March 6. However, on Thursday, the proposal failed to meet the required two-thirds majority. It secured 61.6% support, just shy of the 66.67% threshold required for approval.

Approximately 74% of staked SOL across 910 validators participated in the SIMD-228 vote. Despite the proposal’s technical defeat, Jain described the vote as a “major victory” for Solana’s governance process.

“If this vote tells us one thing, it’s that the state of the Solana network is strong,” Jain said. “This was a meaningful scaling stress test—a social, rather than technical, stress test—and the network passed despite a wide stratification of diverging opinions and interests.”

The Proposal

The proposal aimed to introduce a dynamic emissions schedule that would adjust Solana’s inflation rate based on network conditions. Currently, Solana follows a fixed schedule, with an annual inflation rate of around 4.78% as of January 2025, decreasing by 15% every 180 epochs.

However, Jain noted that Solana's stakers now earn more through mechanisms like Miner Extractable Value (MEV). Because of this, he argued that Solana should switch from a fixed emissions model to a more flexible, market-driven approach.

Under such a "smart emissions" model, the network would automatically adjust emissions based on staking participation — temporarily increasing them when staking declines to maintain security and reducing them when participation is strong. Jain suggested that this approach would create a more efficient and adaptive monetary policy for Solana.

Despite the defeat, Jain said the process was a valuable learning experience. “We uncovered many insights along the way, highlighting clear opportunities to improve the voting process,” he added.

SIMD-123

While SIMD-228 fell short, another key governance proposal, SIMD-123, successfully passed, Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said on X. The proposal was approved with nearly 75% of votes in favor.

SIMD-123 introduces a mechanism that enables validators to share a portion of their revenue with stakers. This move replaces the off-chain incentives some validators currently use.

Solana (SOL) is currently trading at around $134, up 10% in the past 24 hours, but down 53% from its peak of $293, recorded in January.