Aptos Foundation wants to hardwire supply discipline into its protocol through a governance package that would cap issuance and cut staking rewards as on-chain activity grows.

The proposal marks a decisive turn away from the inflation-heavy bootstrap model introduced at mainnet in October 2022, when generous emissions were used to attract validators and seed ecosystem development. 

“The Aptos network is transitioning to performance-driven tokenomics designed to align supply mechanics with network utilisation,” the foundation wrote in a Feb. 18 announcement.

According to the Aptos Foundation, that early growth phase has run its course as the network positions itself to support institutional-scale, high-throughput applications.

At the centre of the overhaul is a protocol-level hard cap of 2.1 billion APT, the first formal ceiling on total supply. At present, 1.196 billion APT are in circulation. 

Of that amount, 1 billion were minted at mainnet, and 196 million have been distributed as staking rewards.

“With a hard supply cap of 2.1 billion, this leaves 904 million APT of headroom or approximately 43% of this total cap,” the foundation said.

Under the revised structure, the remaining issuance would be released gradually through staking rewards, declining over time as the network approaches the cap. 

Eventually, validator compensation would rely primarily on transaction fees rather than fresh token emissions.

The reform package comes ahead of a significant unlock milestone in October 2026, when the four-year vesting cycle for early investors and core contributors concludes.

Annualised supply unlocks are expected to fall by roughly 60% at that point.

Foundation grant distributions are also projected to decline by more than 50% year over year between 2026 and 2027. 

The foundation’s proposals seek to formalise that trajectory rather than depend solely on vesting schedules to reduce supply pressure.

The team intends to introduce a governance proposal to reduce annual staking rewards from 5.19% to 2.6%. 

A redesigned staking model would offer relatively higher yields to participants who commit tokens for longer durations, while keeping aggregate emissions within the lower reward envelope. 

Validator operating costs are expected to ease through architecture upgrades outlined in AIP 139.

To accelerate deflation, the foundation plans to propose a 10X increase in network gas fees.

Since all gas fees are already burned on the network, higher transaction costs translate directly into more token burns. 

“This, in conjunction with increased onchain activity and transactions from new applications being built on Aptos, would substantially increase the aggregate amount of APT that is burned and removed from circulation,” the foundation said.

Another pillar of the strategy involves permanently locking and staking 210 million APT, roughly 18% of the current circulating supply. 

These tokens would not be sold or redistributed.

Instead, the foundation would fund its operations through the staking rewards generated from this locked allocation, reducing reliance on treasury sales.

Meanwhile, future token allocations are expected to vest only after predefined performance milestones are met, with distributions deferred until those benchmarks are achieved. 

The foundation is also exploring a programmatic buyback mechanism or an APT reserve funded through cash holdings or future revenue streams, including licensing and ecosystem investments.

Market reaction to the announcement has been muted.

APT traded near $0.88 at the time of writing, down roughly 4% on the day and more than 50% below its late 2025 highs.

The move places Aptos among a growing group of major protocols revisiting value capture and issuance mechanics. 

Last month, the Injective community approved a governance proposal in January to tighten INJ supply.

Just weeks before, the Optimism governance community greenlighted a buyback program supported by protocol revenue.

The post Aptos plans hard cap and 10x gas fees to drive APT deflation appeared first on Invezz

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