The Solana ecosystem has taken a decisive step toward tightening its monetary policy. During an on-chain vote on August 28, participants approved proposal SGP-0002, which doubles the annual disinflation rate from 15% to 30%. The results are impressive: 176.29 million SOL voted in favor, 66.19 million against, and 20.63 million abstained. This is a clear signal of consensus among holders in favor of a faster transition to scarcity.
The technical foundation of SGP-0002 is proposal SIMD-0550, developed by infrastructure company Helius. The key goal—a target inflation rate of 1.5%—remains unchanged, but the horizon for achieving it is reduced from 5.7 to 2.8 years. According to the authors' estimates, this will reduce emissions by approximately 18.9 million SOL over six years compared to the current schedule. It is important to emphasize: fees, MEV revenues, and the block reward distribution mechanism remain untouched.
Declining staking yields
Accelerated disinflation will directly hit the yields of validators and stakers. According to calculations, the nominal rate could drop from the current 5.84% to 4.34% in the first year, then to 3% and 2.25% in the second and third years, respectively. Helius also assessed the risks to operator economics: out of 738 validators, two could become unprofitable in the first year, 13 in the second, and 30 in the third. However, these figures heavily depend on future staking volumes and fee collections.
Approval of SGP-0002 is only the first stage. Actual changes will take effect only after SIMD-0550 is implemented in client software and the mainnet is upgraded.
Divisions among major players
The vote revealed serious disagreements. Figment opposed it, deploying about 17.1 million SOL, while Helius and Jupiter actively supported the initiative. Kraken dramatically changed its position during the vote: initially, the exchange's validators leaned toward "against," but in the final tally, more than 90% of 8.9 million SOL went in favor. Arjun Sethi, CEO of Kraken, explained this by the principle of custodian neutrality: "Custodians should be conduits, not voices."
Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz ran a massive campaign, personally contacting approximately 500 validators and ecosystem participants in the final hours. His efforts bore fruit, although the result, by his own admission, was achieved "by a hair's breadth."
In parallel, the community approved SGP-0001—the "Solana Constitution," which codifies on-chain governance rules (193.65 million SOL in favor, ~86% of votes). However, SGP-0003 on fee restructuring did not pass: 142.84 million SOL in favor, 50.15 million against, and 72.03 million abstained. That proposal involved splitting fees into a base component and a variable component for computational resources, which was planned to be fully burned, potentially increasing daily SOL burning from 650 to 7,500-9,000 coins.
My analysis: Approval of SGP-0002 is a powerful bullish signal for long-term holders, but it creates pressure on small validators. Declining staking yields could trigger a capital shift into DeFi or other networks, temporarily increasing volatility. However, in the long run, reduced emissions will enhance SOL's scarcity, fundamentally supporting the price.