Aptos Foundation proposes sweeping tokenomics overhaul, halves staking yield
Regulation & Gov ·
The foundation behind the Aptos network has put forward a plan to restructure APT's supply and reward mechanics, including a permanent lockup of 210M APT and a cut to staking returns.
Under the proposal, annual staking rewards would drop from 5.19% to 2.6%, according to wublockchain.xyz. Gas fees would rise tenfold, and total supply would be capped at 2.1B APT, marking a shift away from the network's prior open-ended issuance model.
A central piece of the plan calls for locking and staking 210M APT indefinitely, a sum equal to roughly 18% of circulating supply. The foundation intends to fund its operations from the yield generated by this locked stake rather than through outright token sales, a change meant to reduce sell pressure tied to treasury needs.
The restructuring also touches how the ecosystem distributes capital. Grants would be conditioned on measurable progress rather than issued upfront, and a token buyback funded by cash on hand and future revenue is being weighed as a further lever to tighten supply, per aptosnetwork.com.
Timing adds another layer: the network's original four-year unlock schedule concludes in October 2026, and annualized token unlocks are projected to fall by 60% once that cycle ends. Combined with higher gas fees feeding into burns, the foundation's stated goal is to curb emissions enough to push APT toward a deflationary supply trajectory.
What remains unclear is whether the proposal has been formally adopted through governance or is still under community review, how the buyback program would be structured if approved, and what measurable milestones future grants would be tied to. The cluster's two corroborating reports align on the core figures, but neither specifies a vote timeline or implementation date beyond the October 2026 unlock milestone.