Kraken Changed Its Vote at the Last Minute, Solana's Inflation Policy Narrowsly Passes by 0.33 Percent
Kraken’s last-minute vote reversal secured the passage of SGP-0002, a pivotal Solana governance proposal to accelerate the network’s annual inflation reduction from 15% to 30%. The final vote tally was 67.001%, narrowly exceeding the required 66.667% supermajority by just 0.334 percentage points. This change will bring Solana’s terminal inflation rate of 1.5% forward to around 2029, reducing future SOL issuance over six years by approximately 18.9 million tokens (about 2.6% of current supply).
The vote, the first major test of Solana’s new on-chain governance system, saw intense drama. The Kraken 2 validator, controlling about 8.9 million staked SOL, switched from support to opposition hours before the deadline, pushing the "yes" vote below the passing threshold. A flurry of lobbying, including direct outreach by Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz, ensued. Kraken ultimately flipped back to supporting the proposal, and JitoSOL holders used the "staker override" mechanism to bypass opposing validators and vote directly with their stake.
While SGP-0002 passed, a companion proposal (SGP-0003) to restructure transaction fees failed, indicating community willingness to adjust token supply but hesitance to change fee economics. The approved proposal now moves to a technical implementation phase, requiring client teams to code and activate the change. The event highlighted both the power of large validators and the resilience of Solana’s governance mechanisms, marking a significant, albeit messy, step in decentralized monetary policy management.
marsbit9m ago