Galaxy proposes new consensus approach to resolve Solana inflation debate

On April 18, Galaxy Research submitted a new proposal to the Solana community to reform the network's inflation governance discussions through an approach called Multiple Election Pledge Weight Aggregation (MESA). The mechanism seeks to introduce a market-driven process to optimize the SOL emissions curve without relying on a single-result vote. The proposed approach does not change Solana's ultimate goal of achieving a 1.5% final inflation rate, but could significantly shorten the timeline for achieving that goal depending on the results of the community vote. According to Galaxy's projections, if the current 15% deflation rate is maintained, the network will reach the final inflation rate at epoch 2,135. Raising the deflation rate would bring this point forward.
In the current Solana system, inflation follows a fixed, time-dependent curve, with the goal of achieving a final inflation rate of 1.5%. However, Galaxy notes that previous votes have shown challenges in reaching consensus on adjusting parameters, despite the widespread belief that inflation is higher than necessary. Galaxy's new proposal offers an alternative that allows validators to choose from a number of pre-determined deflation rates, with results determined by a weighted average of those votes. Instead of dynamically adjusting inflation based on real-time metrics, the MESA vote will enforce a fixed disinflationary trajectory that, once approved, will be adjusted based on the validators' collective opinion.