Proposal: Increase GRT Value Capture Through Higher Burns

Governance & GIPs
1

I am a long-term GRT holder and supporter of The Graph, and I believe the project has strong technology and meaningful long-term potential.

My concern is that The Graph’s technological growth has not translated into equally strong economic value capture for the GRT token.

I believe the Foundation and Council should seriously study increasing GRT burns and reducing net issuance over time.

I am not suggesting burns merely to increase the token price. I am suggesting a more sustainable economic model in which increasing network usage creates increasing demand and scarcity for GRT.

One possible approach would be to dedicate a percentage of qualifying protocol revenue to GRT burns.

For example:

  • Begin by using 25% of qualifying protocol revenue to purchase and permanently burn GRT.
  • Include revenue from query fees, Substreams, Token API, Amp, AI-agent services, x402 payments, enterprise services, and other Horizon-based data services.
  • As protocol revenue grows, consider gradually increasing the burn percentage.
  • Long term, target a point where GRT burns substantially offset annual issuance, and eventually consider net-zero or modestly deflationary supply growth if network economics allow it.

I also believe The Graph should publish a simple quarterly report showing:

  1. GRT issued;
  2. GRT burned;
  3. Net change in supply;
  4. Protocol revenue;
  5. GRT staked and delegated; and
  6. Revenue generated by the major data services.

The objective should be to create a stronger economic flywheel:

More network usage → more revenue → more GRT demand and burns → stronger token economics → stronger staking incentives and network security.

The Graph has built valuable infrastructure. I believe the token economics should increasingly allow GRT holders and network participants to share directly in that success.

I would appreciate feedback from the Foundation, Council, Indexers, Delegators, developers, and other GRT holders on whether a revenue-based burn mechanism should be studied and what percentage would be appropriate.

Thank you for considering the proposal.

C.B.
Long-Term GRT Holder

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