The Aptos Foundation has outlined a major restructuring of APT token economics, committing to permanently lock and stake 210 million APT while advancing measures designed to reduce token issuance and make the network’s supply more closely dependent on economic activity. The changes form part of Aptos Improvement Proposal 140 (AIP-140), originally published in February 2026 and subsequently accepted through the network’s governance process.
The Foundation’s commitment covers approximately 18% of the circulating supply reported when the proposal was introduced and roughly 37% of its original mainnet allocation. Under the arrangement, the Foundation will not sell or distribute the 210 million tokens. Instead, they will remain staked indefinitely, with staking rewards intended to support operating expenses. The overhaul also targets a reduction in annual staking rewards from 5.19% to 2.6%, alongside a maximum token supply of 2.1 billion APT. Together, the measures represent a shift away from the inflationary incentives used to support Aptos during its early development.
Permanent Staking Replaces Treasury Sales
The 210 million-token commitment is one of the most consequential elements of the restructuring. Unlike a conventional token burn, the APT will not be destroyed. The tokens will continue existing and participating in network staking, but the Foundation has pledged not to sell or distribute the principal. That distinction matters because the permanently staked assets can continue generating rewards, creating an alternative funding source for the organization.
The Foundation describes the arrangement as functionally similar to removing the tokens from future market supply, although the tokens themselves remain part of the network. The proposed staking-reward reduction would further limit new issuance. Lowering the annual rate to 2.6% represents a reduction of approximately 49.9%, potentially reducing inflationary pressure while also lowering the yield available to validators and delegators. The framework additionally introduces a 2.1 billion APT supply ceiling, replacing the network’s previous uncapped issuance model. Any future issuance beyond that ceiling would require further governance authorization.
Higher Fee Burns Target Deflationary Supply
The overhaul also addresses the amount of APT removed from circulation through transaction fees. Aptos plans to increase network gas fees by approximately tenfold, with transaction fees continuing to be burned rather than distributed to validators. Although the increase sounds substantial, Aptos argues that its existing transaction costs are sufficiently low for ordinary transfers to remain inexpensive. The Foundation reported that approximately 1.9 million APT had been burned since the network’s October 2022 launch.
Increasing fee burns could make transaction activity a more meaningful component of the token’s long-term supply dynamics. The changes coincide with another important milestone. Aptos’s initial four-year vesting cycle for early investors and core contributors concludes in October 2026, with the Foundation projecting an approximately 60% reduction in annualized token unlocks afterward. That decline is separate from the proposed reduction in staking rewards.
The Foundation also intends to link future ecosystem grants more closely to measurable performance, particularly applications involving trading and financial infrastructure. A potential token-buyback mechanism remains under consideration, but the Foundation has not established a finalized purchase program. The broader objective is to create conditions under which APT burned through network activity could eventually exceed newly issued tokens. Such an outcome would depend on actual transaction demand and cannot be guaranteed simply by changing issuance parameters.
The overhaul therefore combines several distinct supply measures: permanently restricting 210 million APT, reducing staking emissions, capping maximum supply and increasing transaction-fee burns. For investors, the changes could reduce future token availability. For validators and developers, they also introduce new economic trade-offs involving staking returns and transaction costs. The next important measure will be whether the governance-backed changes translate into sustained reductions in net APT issuance as the network enters its fifth year.