The Polkadot DAO has approved a landmark governance proposal to impose a fixed supply cap on its native token, DOT, for the first time in the network’s 12‑year history.
Referendum 1710, passed with 81% support under Polkadot’s OpenGov framework on Sunday, sets the maximum supply at 2.1 billion DOT, replacing the project’s previous model of indefinite yearly issuance.
🚨 DOT supply → capped at 2.1 Billion 🚨
— Polkadot (@Polkadot) September 14, 2025
The Polkadot DAO has signaled support for a hard cap, by passing Referendum 1710 on the “Wish For Change” track, with 81% in favor.
Today ⤵️
→ 1.6 Billion DOT exist
→ 120M DOT/year minted each year
→ No supply cap
What Ref. 1710… pic.twitter.com/OJMtDumAZC
From open‑ended issuance to capped supply
Under Polkadot’s former inflationary structure, the network minted about 120 million new DOT each year with no limit on supply. If left unchanged, this trajectory would have swelled total supply to more than 3.4 billion tokens by 2040.
The newly approved model drastically reshapes that path. Emissions will now step down every two years on March 14 (Pi Day), gradually tapering until the final cap is reached. Polkadot estimates 1.91 billion DOT will be in circulation by 2040, nearly 1.5 billion fewer tokens than under the old schedule.
In an announcement post, the DAO emphasized that the shift introduces “scarcity, predictability, and long‑term alignment” into DOT’s tokenomics.
Token distribution as of today
- Current supply: ~1.6 billion DOT (about 76% of eventual total)
- Cap: 2.1 billion DOT
- Inflation reduction: every two years, starting March 14, 2026
- Projected supply 2040: ~1.91 billion DOT
- Projected final cap reached: ~2160
Market reaction
Despite the proposal’s aim to stabilize tokenomics and reduce inflationary pressure, DOT’s market response has been muted.
Data from CoinGecko shows DOT has fallen nearly 5% over the past 24 hours, sliding from $4.35 to around $4.13 following the announcement. Its current market capitalization sits near $6.27 billion.
Institutional push: Polkadot Capital Group
The hard cap coincides with Polkadot’s efforts to court institutional investors. On August 19, Polkadot launched the Polkadot Capital Group, aimed at connecting Wall Street firms and traditional finance institutions with the Polkadot ecosystem.
The division will showcase applications including staking, decentralized finance (DeFi), and real‑world asset tokenization, emphasizing Polkadot’s infrastructure as a bridge between blockchain networks and global capital markets.
Governance and ecosystem shifts
The supply cap vote comes as Gavin Wood, Polkadot’s co‑founder, recently returned to lead development arm Parity Technologies. Analysts say the governance overhaul complements broader repositioning to improve Polkadot’s competitiveness against Ethereum and other Layer‑1 platforms.
By reducing reliance on perpetual token issuance to incentivize validators or fund ecosystem grants, the project aims to transition toward alternative revenue streams and greater economic sustainability.
Industry reaction
Critics and supporters alike see the referendum as a turning point for Polkadot:
- Proponents argue the cap makes DOT more attractive to long‑term holders by eliminating unlimited inflation.
- Skeptics point out that reduced issuance could slow treasury funding flows and validator rewards, potentially impacting network security if not offset by transaction fee growth and adoption.
Polkadot community channels on X were mixed, with some users celebrating the move as “laying Bitcoin‑style scarcity into Polkadot’s tokenomics,” while others questioned whether the governance timeline, which introduced the measure as a “Wish for Change” proposal, provided adequate debate.
Outlook
Setting a hard cap marks a dramatic reset of Polkadot’s monetary policy. Whether this sparks renewed investor confidence or compounds near‑term price struggles will depend on how well the ecosystem drives adoption, fee revenue, and institutional partnerships.
For now, a future supply locked at 2.1 billion DOT makes one thing clear: Polkadot is betting that scarcity and predictability can deliver the stability and investor trust that an open‑ended inflationary model could not.
Oleksii Shumak
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