In a bid to resolve ongoing challenges around Solana’s inflation governance, Galaxy Research has proposed a new mechanism called MESA — Multiple Election Stake-Weight Aggregation — aimed at bringing a more nuanced and democratic approach to decision-making for SOL’s emission rate.
🧠 From Binary to Spectrum: A Smarter Voting Method
Instead of the traditional binary “yes/no” system that has hindered progress, the MESA proposal introduces a weighted average model, where validators can vote for multiple deflation options. The final decision is derived from the aggregate of these votes — turning governance into a market-based, data-driven process.
This follows the unsuccessful attempt of SIMD-228, an earlier initiative that sought to shift Solana’s inflation model from a fixed to a dynamic structure. While the community agreed that inflation should be reduced, the vote failed due to the rigid binary format.
🔍 How It Works
In the proposed system, validators allocate their votes across several deflation rate choices. For example:
- 5% vote to retain the current rate,
- 50% favor a 30% deflation rate,
- 45% support a 33% deflation rate.
The weighted average of these votes results in a new effective deflation rate — 30.6% in this case. The target is to stabilize long-term supply inflation at 1.5%.
🎯 The Core Benefits
- More representative governance: Validators express nuanced opinions.
- Stable long-term planning: The inflation curve remains fixed.
- Market-driven: Decisions reflect stakeholder demand and sentiment.
“Galaxy Research seeks to suggest a genuinely alternative process to achieving what we believe is the community’s broad goal, and not necessarily proscribe any particular inflation rate outcome,” the firm clarified.
📊 Current Solana Inflation Stats
- Current inflation rate: 4.6%
- Terminal target: 1.5%
- Staked supply: 387 million SOL (~64.7%)
Galaxy Strategic Opportunities, a Galaxy affiliate, also provides staking and validation services on Solana — positioning the firm uniquely to offer governance insights and structural proposals.
